


Albion House

by Eryiss



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Adult relationship, Alternate Universe - Cottagecore, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Boss/Employee Relationship, Carnivals, Emotionally Mature Laxus, Emotionally Repressed Freed, Fluff, Fraxus Day 2020, Grief/Mourning, Handyman Laxus, Hiking, Holidays, Kissing, Lawyer Freed, Light Angst, M/M, Mentions of Blood, Multiple chapters, Mutual Pining, Original Characters Only Play A Small Part, Self-Indulgent, discussion of therapy, discussions of bullying, fraxus, supportive friends, writing event
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2021-01-14
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:06:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 54,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27062392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eryiss/pseuds/Eryiss
Summary: Freed's life was centred in the city; it always had been. He was a lawyer, lived in an apartment, and could travel the subway with his eyes closed. For the majority of his life, he had no reason to enter the countryside. That was, until he inherited a cottage in the middle of nowhere.Laxus had always lived in the village of Magnolia. It was a quaint place and, although the limitations were obvious and near infuriating, he did love it. And working at his grandfather's hotel wasn't that bad, nor was the relatively limited possibility for finding someone. It was fine.But, when these men meet and a mutually beneficial opportunity presents itself, they begin to realise what they've been missing in life. And what they can offer one another.
Relationships: Bickslow & Evergreen & Freed Justine, Cana Alberona & Laxus Dreyar, Freed Justine & Lisanna Strauss, Laxus Dreyar & Mirajane Strauss, Laxus Dreyar/Freed Justine
Comments: 22
Kudos: 87





	1. The House

**Author's Note:**

> This was written as my admission for Fraxus Day 2020. It ended up becoming a multi-chapter, and the chapters should be uploaded every week on thursdays. I hope you all enjoy it, it's been really fun to write. The event was hosted by [Fuckyeahfraxus.](https://fuckyeahfraxus.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Thank you so much for any comments and kudos you leave. They mean so much. I hope you enjoy and thanks for reading.  
> 

**Chapter One – The House**

Freed hadn't expected his mother's death to be so tedious.

He should probably feel more emotional about it. He and his mother had no ill-will towards one another – there was no tragic secret nor history of arguing or abuse between them – but he found himself oddly unbothered by hearing of her death. Not a numbness of any kind either, he felt very much the same as if a colleague had told him their mother had passed. It was just an event that had happened, and something that affected his life, but not his emotions.

His apathy probably came from the fact he and his mother hadn't spoken for years. Again, not for any great reason, just because they didn't. He and his father had always been closer, and when he had died four years prior, Freed had grieved and got over it as best a person can. His mother was the worker of the family, and thus the emotional relationship hadn't been as strong. Neither had made an effort to connect in their adulthood, only really linked by his father. And so once he had passed, there wasn't really any reason to speak. Neither person was overly emotional, so they didn't seek comfort in one another's arms, and instead just drifted off.

And so, the death of his mother was tedious.

Death was followed by a lot of things. The need to plan a funeral, people being completely unaware of how to act around him, and an odd amount of pity coming from people who didn't know him at all. Freed was something of a pragmatist, and as such it became an experience he didn't want to repeat. At least with the death of his father, he'd had his sadness to distract him. But this was just, well… tedious.

Perhaps the worse thing to have happened occurred two days prior. As was customary after someone passes, there was a reading of the will. A pointless exercise for this instance, given Freed had literally inherited everything. Freed knew this already – he was his family's lawyer for god's sake, he drafted the damned thing – but he still had to attend the reading. So, for an hour in a busy work week, he was forced to travel down two floors in his building, and sit there while another lawyer – Natsu Dragneel, who had actually interned under Freed for a year – explained the law and what the will meant. To the man who had taught him it!

Further adding to the annoyance of the situation, almost everything he'd inherited had strings attached. There was a lot of debt, from both loans and gambling, apparently. Freed's credit score was going to take a hit, given how much there was. There were also her belongings, which he would have to look through at some point. She also apparently owned property, which was now his.

This would be good, had it not been for its location. Freed's life was centred in the city, this house was in the middle of the countryside, miles from what Freed considered civilisation. Why she had owned a house there was beyond Freed, she was more metropolitan than him; she lived in Era and Era alone. But unfortunately, now it was his.

So now, he was nearing the end of a three-and-a-half-hour train ride.

He was going to sell the place, of course. Why his mother hadn't done so confused Freed, given her debts. Property values were high in this area, many rich older people wanted to retire there, and a three-bedroom cottage was perfect for that. But he needed to see it, speak with estate agents, and sign away the rights. All in all, tedious.

When he got off the train, he was hit by how different it was to Era. It was open, the air smelt different and it looked like an illustration from a Victorian romance novel. All very idyllic, but Freed had no intention of staying long enough to appreciate it. Instead, he located the taxi service, and ordered a car to his new property.

Apparently Uber hadn't arrived there yet.

The car came soon enough, and after a few failed attempts to illicit more than a curt answer from Freed, it was a quiet ride. It took about forty minutes, and Freed watched as fields passed by, the atmosphere dampened by the scent of manure filling the air. People raved about the fresh air in the countryside, but Freed much preferred the smell of petrol and faint piss of Era to literal crap. Better the devil you know.

Thankfully, the smell of muck spreading was interrupted when his phone lit up. He glanced at the contact name – 'Estate Agent' – before lifting it to his ear and accepting the call. He needed an evaluation for the property, and apparently this man was the best in the area. Hopefully the fastest too.

"Mr Clive," He greeted, leaning back.

"Mr Justine," The estate agent replied in a more jovial tone. "Just to let you know, I'm at the property and waiting for you. There's been a few evaluations over the years and they're all pretty similar, so it shouldn't take long."

"Thank you," Freed nodded to himself, glancing past the front seat to see the GPS saying they should be at their destination in about five minutes. "I'll be there soon."

"Great," Gildarts' grin was audible in his tone. "Sorry that you had to come down here to deal all of this."

"It's not your fault," Freed said placatingly, though not honestly. "The sooner it's done, the better."

"Couldn't agree more," Gildarts grinned.

"Why had it been evaluated before?" Freed asked, brows furrowing slightly.

"Apparently your mother has tried to sell it a few times. Twice with independent online stores, and once with an estate agent. Clearly it didn't go well," The man laughed. "But we'll be more successful. We know what we're doing."

After some pointless pleasantries, the call was ended. Freed found himself frowning; a cottage in this area should have been sold without any difficulty. The fact this one hadn't, despite its perfect position and seemingly positive qualities, didn't bode well. He tried to be optimistic, but at this point, it was almost certain that even selling the house would further add to his annoyances.

It was ten minutes later – it took longer than expected because he got caught up in traffic caused by a heard of cows crossing from one field to the other, followed by an uncaring farmer who glared at the taxi as if it were an affront to his lifestyle – when he saw the house.

It was clear as to why his mother couldn't sell it.

The place was practically derelict. In its prime it would have been the ideal village cottage, with white walls and a slated roof. It would have had a garden filled with perfectly trimmed flowers, a large but well-groomed oak tree, and most likely a cliché dog running around. Unfortunately, the house's prime was clearly centuries ago because it embodied the world decapitated in a way Freed had never seen. The roof was falling apart, the garden filled with so many overgrown plants nothing else could be seen, and a window was hanging out of the wall. It was unliveable, and practically unlovable.

Perfect. His mother had left him debt, three wardrobes filled with wrinkled clothes, and a building nobody could use without a death wish. Now his hopes of selling the place was unrealistic.

As he approached the building, a man made his presence known by leaving a car with a smile on his face. He was older than Freed, in his late forties if Freed was being kind, and he gave a polite 'Hello' as he approached. It was clearly the estate agent, who was showing a lot more optimism than Freed felt at that moment.

"Mr Justine, nice to meet you in person," He greeted.

"Likewise," Freed nodded, though his tone didn't reflect the sentiment. Gildarts laughed.

"I can see from your face that you were expecting something a little… different," The man chuckled, and Freed found himself annoyed by the man's enthusiasm. "You probably thought it'd be a little more liveable, didn't ya?"

"Something like that," Freed agreed, looking at the building almost accusingly.

"Well if it's any kind of relief, the building's structure is actually very secure. I won't lie, there's probably hundreds of problems going on in there, but at least the roof isn't going to collapse on our heads," The agent laughed, and in any other situation it might be less grating. "I can explain the details as we look through it, I'm sure that you want to get this done quickly."

"If that's possible."

Gildarts nodded, then jogged back to his car. When he returned, he was holding two hardhats that one would see on a building site, and Freed looked at it warily. Gildarts smiled and patted him on the shoulder with an unneeded amount of strength.

"The roof itself won't fall, but there's always a chance that the ceiling tiles might, so we can't be too careful, can we?" He chuckled loudly, placing on his hat, and walking into the building. Freed, after a moment of hesitation, joined him.

* * *

"So, you're sayi-" A small scratch. "-basically unsellable."

Freed ground his teeth together slightly. He was pacing down a village high-street, holding his phone to his ear and trying his best to listen to Evergreen's stuttering voice. Apparently random country roads were perfectly fine with phone signals; but for the most built up area for miles, it was practically impossible to have a conversation without some kind of interference. It was something very quickly grating on his nerves.

"Essentially, yes," Freed sighed, sidestepping a couple walking towards him. "It's too run down for anyone to want to buy it. My estate agent said the best thing to do is to see if a property auction will take it and sell it cheap."

"Why don't you-" Another scratching sound. "-it down. Sell the land-" A quick, high pitched noise. "-farmer or property developer."

Freed's muscles tenses slightly at the suggestion. He had thought about that, but of course when he had told Gildarts that it was the logical course of action, the man had looked at him with something akin to pity in his eyes. He had then patted the man on the shoulder – again making Freed's body jerk slightly with the power behind the action – and added another layer of annoyance to this ridiculous situation.

"Apparently it's a listed building, and has some kind of historical preservation status," Freed sighed, slowing slightly when the buzzing on the phone went quiet. Hopefully, he had a stronger signal now. "Essentially meaning, the building has to stay."

"If it's so important, why did they let it get so run down?" Evergreen asked, voice clear now.

"They didn't, my mother has been receiving phone calls and letters from local council about it for years," Freed wiped at his eye with his free hand, deflating slightly. "Which I will now be getting, I suppose. Along with the letters and phone-calls from debt collectors, no doubt."

"How much would it sell for as it is?"

"Optimistically, 25 thousand. Since you can't make any modifications to the outer building, something in this state is hard to get customers for."

It wasn't anywhere near enough to cover his mother's debts, even when combined with the savings he was unwilling to give up. Though a successful corporate lawyer and having saved a substantial part of his earning for over ten years, Freed was by no means rich. His family came from money, but never gave any to him as they wished for him not to be spoiled. So far it hadn't mattered, but now with six figures of debt from nowhere, his comfortable life seemed unstable. This wasn't helped by the fact he only wanted to use his savings as a last resort; he'd saved this money for himself, not to give to online casinos because of his mother's apparent addiction.

"Couldn't you make it a bit more marketable," Evergreen suggested, and Freed found himself irrationally irritated by the chewing he heard. They were colleagues, and he knew that her lunch break wasn't for another hour. "Tidy it up slightly."

"It's not run down, it's unliveable," Freed grunted. "The windows are boarded up, the garden practically a jungle, bare floorboards, furniture that is practically rotting, and a bird had nested on the oven."

"Maybe plant some flowers and bake a cake when showing people around," Evergreen joked, and Freed almost laughed.

He couldn't resent his mother. He did love her, and perhaps if he had made some kind of effort in talking to her then maybe the debts wouldn't have happened because she could talk to him about her gambling. Of course that regret was pointless now, thinking about what he could have done wouldn't change anything. He just had to deal with the consequences.

"You'll figure something out," Evergreen spoke up again.

"I know," Freed nodded. "But I'm not quite sure exactly how, yet."

"Well, I've just checked, and there's a nice-looking hotel near you," Evergreen smiled, and Freed could hear the clicking of a computer mouse through his speakers. "All good reviews, apparently a brilliant kitchen and very nice staff."

"Good for them," Freed said with furrowed brows.

"I've booked you a room," Evergreen declared, clearly grinning. Freed went to speak but Ever went first. "You're staying there for a week. You can either spend it thinking what to do next with your house, or just have a nice break, which you're overdue. Climb one of the mountains or something. I'll have a suitcase sent down with everything you need."

"No," Freed said firmly.

"I don't believe I gave you a choice, dear," Evergreen smiled. "And I've already paid for it. If you stay, consider it a gift. And if you don't, you'll be in even more debt, and I'm much worse than any bailiff you can think of, and we share an office, so I will make your life miserable."

"You're both blackmailing and threatening me," Freed grunted. "I could technically sue you for workplace harassment."

"Yeah, but you're my lawyer so you'd have to argue with yourself," Evergreen laughed. "Which you could, you've got an ego big enough you probably crop up on those reddit pages about people who think they're really smart," Freed let out an indignant sound at that, and Ever just laughed. "Just take some time off, you know you have to have a week off eventually. Why not just do it now? Enjoy the countryside, smell the fresh air, read a book."

"I read constantly, the fresh air is laden with the scent of literal shit, and so far the countryside is a pointless expanse of green that makes me want to take on more cases against environmentalists."

"Oh stop feeling sorry for yourself," Evergreen laughed. "Find your hotel, get yourself a drink, and relax for a week."

After a second of consideration, and a deflated sigh, Freed spoke again. "What's the hotel called."

"Fairy Tail Inn," Evergreen read aloud. "Sounds a bit cliché, but the rooms look great and the reviews are all good. Should be at one end of the high street, at the top of the hill."

Freed looked back over his shoulder, he had walked past the hotel in his search for a reliable amount of signal. He hadn't paid it much attention, as it was at the start of the conversation and he'd been attempting to understand any of what Evergreen was saying, but it looked nice enough. The only real reason he had actually remembered the place was because he was fairly sure they had mistaken the two spellings of the word Tail. He started to walk back up the steep high-street, telling Evergreen that he knew where the place was.

"Okay, I'll leave you to it then," Evergreen smiled, and the buzzing on the phone returned slightly. "See you in a week. Oh, and text me a picture of the house when you're tetchy so I can make fun of you. Bye!"

She cut herself off before Freed could reply, and the lawyer rolled his eyes slightly.

When he reached the top of the hill, he walked through a quaint beer garden and into the Fairy Tail building. He was confronted with a small front desk, behind which a woman with a light bob smiled up at him. He walked towards her, scanning the name tag – Lisanna – before she gave a polite introduction to the hotel.

"Are you here to eat, or to stay sir?" She asked, voice enthusiastic and happy.

"To stay," Freed explained. "I believe my friend just made a reservation for me. Freed Justine."

"One moment," She smiled, leaning down, and typing on the computer.

As she worked, Freed glanced around the lobby area. From the outside, the building had been incredibly rustic looking, and Freed had feared slightly that it was going to be as old fashioned and outdated inside as well. But it was contemporary, clean, and relatively nice. It was clear that it was made to look farmhouse-ish while keeping all the needed amenities, making a distinction from the branded hotels while also keeping to a high quality.

They had a few certificates hung on the walls, mainly hotel awards from different companies. There was also something proclaiming 'MAGNOLIA: Village of the Year 2019' in proud prominence. Freed vaguely wondered if this was something all businesses got, or if Fairy Tail was some kind of hub for the town.

"There you are," Lisanna said suddenly, and Freed turned back to her. "Room 17. If you'd like to follow me, I'll take you there. I can carry your bags if you'd like."

"I don't have any bags with me, actually," Freed said, and Lisanna looked at the floor with a frown to confirm his words. "This is rather impromptu, I'm afraid. I'm having a suitcase sent down here, I expect it'll be here tomorrow."

"Oh, okay," Lisanna smiled, though Freed could clearly see she was somewhat confused. "What brings you to Magnolia, if you don't mind me asking? We don't get many people here in autumn, you're our only guest actually."

"It's not for pleasure," Freed explained. "I inherited some property, and selling it isn't as easy as I thought, so I'll be here for a little while."

"Is that the Albion House?" She asked as they turned a corner.

"Yes," Freed answered a little slowly.

"Oh, sorry, that probably sounds a bit creepy that I know it so fast," She laughed. "It's just that news sort of travelled about it getting a new owner. It's been run down for a while, and people thought that maybe the new person would try and renovate it. But if you want to sell it then that's your choice of course, I hope it goes better than it did with your mother-" She stopped talking, and clearly looked uncomfortable. "Oh, I'm sorry. For your loss, and for that."

"You don't need to do that," Freed waved her off. "I'm not going to start crying at the sound of her name."

She looked relieved at his reaction, and Freed tried not to show a small scowl on his face. The young woman hadn't done anything wrong, but the fact she knew both the house and the fact his mother had died meant that other people knew as well. He had hoped that, at least for one week, he wouldn't have to deal with people knowing about his bereavement. Apparently he wasn't even going to be given this.

"Is the house important for some reason?" Freed asked as they climbed the stairs. "It's got historical preservation, and you said people were interested when they found out I own it."

"Not exactly," Lisanna smiled. "I think all the buildings in the town have that status, they want to make it look like it did when it was made. Personally, I think they do it because the council makes a lot of money from film shoots coming here," She laughed a little. "And we're a fairly small community, so news gets around. They were the same when it got sold last time, actually. They thought it'd get renovated too."

"So my mother wasn't the reason it looks like it does, then?"

"I've never seen it in a better state," Lisanna shrugged, before pausing in thought. "I think there's a painting of what it used to look like in your room. That's a coincidence."

She laughed to herself before continuing to walk, Freed following her. They walked through a few more corridors and up another staircase before they stopped at the old looking door of one of the rooms. Lisanna pulled a key from her pocket and opened the door, revealing the room that was to be Freed's home for the rest of the week. Freed walked in after, and looked around.

It was a nice room, also designed to look like it belonged in a farm house while still being relatively luxurious. It was on the smaller side, clearly Evergreen hadn't wanted to spend too much if the single bed was telling, but nice enough. A private bathroom, TV, and area for making drinks. It was essentially everything one could want from a hotel room. Although the fact that the slanted roof above the bed was low did make Freed pause; he would have to make sure not to bang his head when he awoke.

His eyes fell to a painting on the wall. Sure enough, there was an illustration of the house he'd been inside, only in a much better state. It looked rather homely.

"It's nice, isn't it," Lisanna smiled. "I think that's why people want to see it renovated. Just because it's nice."

"Well, perhaps soon it will be," Freed mused. "I'll most likely have to sell it to a retail auction, they often attract people looking for cheap property to work on, or so my estate agent said. So perhaps that'll happen."

"You don't sound enthusiastic about the idea?"

"I was hoping for more than an auction house would be willing to pay, I must admit," Freed sighed, still looking at the painting. "It's a last resort, but I doubt I'll find a better offer over the next week."

"You could renovate it and sell it when you're done?" Lisanna suggested.

"My knowledge of property development extends to the legal side only," Freed chuckled to himself. "If I were to try and work on it, there's a good chance I'd set it alight. I expect that doesn't align with the preservations society's rules."

"I suppose not," Lisanna laughed. "I should get back to the desk and leave you alone. Breakfast is served from six until twelve, you get it included in the price of the room. And if your bags come I'll bring them up for you, or have my brother do it since he's working the desk tomorrow If there's anything else you need, just call reception," She smiled. "And we hope you enjoy your stay."

Freed watched her leave, before standing alone in the room and letting himself decompress for the first time since he arrived.

Peculiarly, he found his gaze land on the painting.


	2. The Handyman

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Previously: Freed arrives in Magnolia to visit his new property, he is shown just how unfortunate his situation is, and he is forced to stay away from the city for longer than he would have liked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all enjoyed the first chapter. Again, this is written as part of Fraxus Day 2020, hosted by [Fuckyeahfraxus.](https://fuckyeahfraxus.tumblr.com/) Make sure to check them out, and see the other content made for this event.
> 
> Thank you so much for any comments and kudos you leave. They mean so much. I hope you enjoy and thanks for reading.  
> 

**Chapter Two – The Handyman**

"Fucks sake. Fucking bitch."

"That's not the way to talk to a lady, Laxus. Damn."

"I ain't talkin' to a lady, I'm talking to this piece of shit."

With an angered huff, Laxus slammed down the screwdriver and allowed it to clatter against the small tray of tools. On the table was the industrial toaster that Laxus had been attempting to fix for the better half of the morning, with an only slightly warm piece of bread resting pitifully on the wire rack, practically mocking Laxus with its lack of any toast-like qualities. It was the sixth time that year that the machine had decided to work, and Laxus had grown to have a vendetta against the fucking thing.

But he wasn't going to let it win. He had singlehandedly fixed practically every electric device in Fairy Tail since becoming the handyman, and he would be damned if the fucking toaster was his downfall. He'd conquered faulty boilers, crappy wiring and, on one condition, a disgusting issue with sewage backup over the past year alone. A toaster was nothing.

"Just make your grandad buy a new one," Cana laughed as she walked further into the hotel's breakroom. "It's like twenty years old, probably only makes the bread darker because of an oil leak."

"I ain't getting it replaced," Laxus snapped, glaring at the open circuitry of the machine with probably too much hatred for what the situation deserved. "If it gets it replaced, then the fucking things knows that it's won."

"It's a toaster dude," Cana deadpanned.

"Don't give a shit," Laxus groaned, leaning back in the chair so the forelegs left the floor, resting his arms behind his head. "You meant to be working today?"

"Yeah. Apparently there's some big group coming for lunch and they need extra wait staff, so Gramps called me. And I'm working the bar later," Cana shrugged, taking out a chair and straddling it; because of course she did. "You?"

"Room seven had a flickering light, needed fixing," Laxus sighed. "Thought I might as well work on this thing while I'm here."

The blonde looked around the small room, eyes flittering towards the clock and sighing. He'd been drinking the night before and had it not been for his grandfather's seven AM phone call worrying about the supposed 'lawsuit waiting to happen' he would probably only just be getting out of bed after nursing a light hangover. He'd been able to wrangle a free breakfast from Mirajane, at least, but he would trade that in for his covers at that moment. At least when he was planning to feel sorry for himself about his hangover, he had something to do. Now he just had a day of nothing.

His work was fine, but inconsistent. He did any repairs that was needed at his grandfather's hotel, be that plumbing, electric work, or just helping out when it was understaffed. But Makarov kept a tight ship, and had good relationships with his staff so absences only happened when needed. So, Laxus was often left with little to do.

It was a nice problem to have, but Laxus didn't intend to be impartial.

This was the issue in living in a small town for all of your life, being forced to either thrive there or break free from it. He liked Magnolia, the area was beautiful and his childhood there had been good, but he was limited by living there. A degree in electrical engineering wasn't worth much when the only relevant job available was at a mechanics shop where he'd once bashed in the teeth of the owner's son. The miserable old bastard should have forgiven him by now; it'd been six years.

Which was why he was grateful for his grandfather giving him the job. He got to put his degree to use, even if on crappy toasters, and made a living. But it was a boring existence, and the reason why Laxus found himself on job searchers websites at least twice a week.

"You gonna eat that?" Cana asked, going towards the warmed but not toasted bread.

"No," Laxus furrowed his brows. "Are you?"

"I'm poor, man," Cana laughed, picking up the bread and eating it.

"I've seen the cupboard where you keep your booze, you ain't 'stealing warm. crappy bread poor' yet," Laxus deadpanned, and Cana laughed as she ate her bread; she didn't even put fucking butter on it. "And you get twice the number of tips than me when we work the bar together. Where's it going?"

"Booze cupboard," Cana grinned.

"You'll fuck up your kidneys, you know."

"I'll get an operation and replace 'em," Cana laughed, swallowing a bite of bread. "Speaking of being split open and things going inside, you fucked anyone lately?"

"Fuckin hell!" Laxus exclaimed, wide eyes darting towards the woman who was now openly laughing.

This was something that his friend brought up often, and as such she had lost all tact about it. The two of them were some of the only openly gay people in Magnolia – at least to their knowledge – and therefore had some annoying kinship when it came to their relationships. It had started as them both feeling sorry for themselves, as they had nobody to date. Somehow, it had devolved into a friendship where Cana felt perfectly comfortable talking about what Laxus was planning on doing, or had done, in his bed.

Worse still, Laxus didn't have the same opportunity to make fun of her. Cana was openly besotted with Mirajane, and had long since lost any shame about it. Cana could joke about Laxus falling in love with any man he saw, but Laxus couldn't do the same because they both knew Mirajane was the only woman for her.

Selfish asshole.

"You're gonna fuck all of hell? You must have more time on your hands," Cana laughed, and Laxus stood up with a groan. "Aw, come on man, don't leave."

"I'm gonna go see if one of the toilets needs to be unblocked," Laxus grunted, walking towards the door of the breakroom. "Seems more pleasant than talking t' you."

"Oh how you wound me, I think I might cry," Cana spoke in possibly the most sarcastic voice possible.

"Go suck on yer crushes clit," Laxus muttered.

"Had a good few dreams about that, my man," Cana grinned, before adding in a less teasing tone. "And Lisanna said she wants to talk to you later, so find her once you're done scrubbing the shitter," A smirk formed on her features again. "Maybe she wants to set you up with her brother. You'd be a hot ass couple."

"Fuck yourself."

"Imagine the carnage though. The two of ya could break beds faster than an over eager lumberjack."

Laxus didn't respond, and lifted his middle finger to the woman as he left the room.

* * *

There had been no toilets in need of being cleaned, thankfully, but Laxus had been able to keep himself busy for the morning. It had been mainly small and inconsequential jobs, such as removing leaves from the guttering before a build-up formed and checking that supply of complimentary soap wasn't running low, before he ended up back in the break room and working on the toaster.

It wasn't going well, and the patrons would have to deal with the break rooms single slice toaster for at least another day, but at least Cana was working the restaurant for the lunch shift rather than being there to annoy him. He hoped that the table was full of obnoxious people who didn't know what they wanted and refused to tip.

He gulped down half a can of Red Bull, and groaned as he fought the urge to check toaster prices online.

After cracking his back, he stood up and ran a hand through his hair. He quickly checked himself out in the mirror to make sure he looked presentable before leaving the break room; he may not be part of the service-staff, but he still needed to look good to represent the hotel. Normally he wouldn't have to worry about this – his contact with guests was limited – but if he was going to speak to Lisanna, as Cana had claimed he should, then it was almost definite that he'd be in the public eye for a few minutes at least. He didn't look too bad for someone who'd nearly vomited over a plate of cheese fries the night before.

Lisanna was working at the office attached to the front desk, doing some kind of admin that Laxus didn't care enough about to understand. He walked in and, once she looked up from the monitor, she grinned at him. Laxus didn't frown, but the urge was there. The two of them weren't particularly close.

"Hi," She greeted, annoyingly cheerfully. "I didn't know if Cana had passed on the message."

"Well, here I am," Laxus shrugged.

"There you are," She said with a smile, then waved towards one of the other desk chairs populating the cramped room. Laxus took a seat. "So, I've got something I thought you could help with. A proposition I guess."

Laxus paused for a moment. She wasn't actually going to try and set him up with Elfman, was she? That would be weird, Elfman wasn't Laxus' type.

"There's this guest, you see, who checked in yesterday," She began, before stopping herself. "No, that's not important. Well it is, but not right now," Laxus stayed quiet. Lisanna was a talkative person, and could probably have an entire conversation with herself. "You know Albion house, the old cottage on the outskirts of town that's' all run down."

"Yeah," Laxus nodded, confused. "Think I made up some crap about it being haunted when I was a kid."

"That's the place- that was you! Mirajane told me when I was eight and I had nightmare for weeks, you asshole," Lisanna chastised, and Laxus didn't hide the smirk at the admission. "Whatever, we can talk about that later. Anyway, it recently got a new owner, you see. And I was talking to him last night and a bit during breakfast. So he doesn't know what to do because he can't knock it down and sell the land, and the house is kind of crappy so nobody's actually gonna wanna pay any real money for it, right. So he's kinda stuck; I think he needs the money for something, I didn't wanna ask."

Did she talk to the guests this much?

This was why Laxus always booked into big corporate hotels whenever he stayed away.

"Getting off topic, sorry," She shook her head. "So, I was talking to the new owner, and he thought maybe he could get it sold for more money if it was more functional. Not a total refurbishment or anything, just making sure the lights work and the floorboards won't crumble underfoot. And he's not from the area, so he doesn't know any builders or plumbers or anyone he'll need."

She then stopped talking, and began grinning at Laxus expectantly. "And?"

"Really conforming to the stereotype of strong men being dumb," She muttered, and Laxus found himself happy that his ghost story had apparently given her nightmares. "And I said that we've got a kickass handyman working here part time who could probably help you out. I told him about all the stuff you do around here, and he said he'd be interested in meeting with you!"

"You got me a job interview?" Laxus said, taken aback slightly.

"Well, I don't think it's that formal, but kinda," She grinned. "I heard you're looking for a project to work on, and he said he's willing to pay you for your time if you're any good."

Laxus leant back in the chair, closing his eyes slightly. He didn't have a reputation for reacting particularly well to surprises, and this was rather a big one. Because a woman he barely actually knew had done something pretty damn big for him.

Working on property was something Laxus had been curious about, and it had seemed to be plausible for him. It was essentially what he was doing in the hotel, just on a larger scale and possibly with more of a challenge, which Laxus liked the sound of. There had been a few months where he'd watched house renovation shows when he could, to see if he could get a better understanding on how the field worked. He very quickly learned that, to do what he wanted, he needed the money to buy some run down property to renovate. Money which he didn't have, given he was a handyman working part time in a hotel.

So to have an opportunity given to him out of nowhere was a little overwhelming.

Because it could really help him out. He was more than qualified to modernise a house's inner workings, and was willing to put the work in. And if it went well, he would at worst end up with more experience, some extra money and perhaps a good reference he could give to some other housing developers. It could actually be really good.

Of course, that meant Laxus was immediately distrustful of the offer. Because things didn't just happen.

"So this guy is just gonna trust some random stranger?"

"I think he's kind of desperate, really," Lisanna laughed, a pitying expression on her face. "I think he wants to get out of here as quickly as he can, he's a city boy. But that doesn't matter. He seems like a nice man, and it's not like you can't do the work he wants. You might as well talk to him, see if it works out," She shrugged. "He's in the restaurant I think. I said I'd bring him over if you were interested."

"Erm," Laxus mumbled. "Fuck it, why not?"

The majority of the walk towards the restaurant was spent with Laxus trying to rationalise exactly what had just happened. He glanced at his reflection whenever he could, because if this was as much an opportunity as Lisanna seemed to think that it was, Laxus needed to make a good first impression.

When they walked into the restaurant, Lisanna seemed to scan the room before spotting the person she was looking for. She started to walk again and Laxus followed, eyes eventually settling on the man sitting at the window table.

He wasn't what Laxus expected.

Having expected a stuffy old man, in his fifties and balding, Laxus felt wrongfooted. The man was almost certainly a few years younger than Laxus. He had long and green hair, tied high in a ponytail. He was wearing a sharp looking suit that Laxus didn't recognise the brand of. His facial features were sharp and well structured, no doubt the rest of his body just as maintained under his clothing. As Laxus got closer he could smell a mix of some sharp and cool cologne, and the floral scent left by the clothes' steamers put in every room. When he looked up to Laxus he had sharp and inviting blue eyes, and a somewhat enigmatic expression.

Laxus might be inclined to call him a pretty boy, had his expression been a little less intense.

Just his type. Aesthetically, anyway.

"Mr Justine," Lisanna said in greeting. "How'd your lunch?"

"Very pleasant," The man said, glancing for a second to the chicken salad he was eating and then back to Laxus.

"This is the man I told you about, our handyman," Lisanna explained, nudging Laxus. The blonde stepped forward and offered his hand to shake. The man did so, with a firm grasp.

"Laxus," The blonde said. "It's nice to meet you, sir."

"You too," The man replied, and Laxus couldn't help but notice how smooth his voice was. But it wasn't the time, so he retracted his hand as the other man spoke. "I'm Freed, as you've perhaps been told. I expect your colleague has explained why I wish to speak with you?"

"The Albion House, right?" Laxus asked. "You got lumbered with the place and need help with the electrics."

"Essentially, yes," Freed nodded. "The only thing that's actually remained intact is the building's structure. The wiring, the plumbing, the heating system, and I'm sure there's a lot more that I'm not aware of that has also been destroyed. I wish to get the building to a point where it's functioning so I can sell it. It doesn't need to be nice to look at, just work. Is that something you think you can do?"

"Well, I'm good with all that shit- stuff," Laxus winced, glancing at the table, and missing the amused expression on Freed's face. "I've done a lot of work here, and in some other houses when they need it. Unless there's some really unusual crap, I should be fine."

"Take a seat, Mr Dreyar."

At the sudden request, Laxus found himself doing what he was told. He sat opposite Freed, and waited a little awkwardly while Freed ordered another tea for himself. He thought about telling him that Lisanna wasn't actually part of the wait-staff, but she smiled and said it'll be right out before retreating to the kitchen. He frowned as she walked away, only to quickly turn back and give him two thumbs up and a large smile. He almost rolled his eyes at the stupid action, but looked back to the man who might soon employ him.

"I think it's best we be honest with one another," Freed continued, and Laxus nodded slightly. "I have no interest nor practical skill when it comes to homeownership and renovations. I can learn, and I'm not an impractical man in general, but a lot of the work will be done by you."

"I can do that," Laxus said with a nod. "How would that work with the, erm… payment, if that ain't too forward?"

"No, that's fair," Freed said, pulling out his phone from his breast pocket. "I haven't had long to look into it, but I plan to pay you by the hour; I don't know how long it will take, so I thought that made more sense than a single payment. I'll clarify how much you get each hour when I find out the average pay a skilled workman gets. Of course we can debate this if you don't think it's fair, but I expect it'll be a good wage"

Laxus probably looked a bit stupid for a moment. He was expecting either a vague answer or a simple 'I'll pay you a grand and expect it to be done by the end of the month.' Not a lot of… legal sounding crap.

"That sounds good," Laxus said after a moment, nodding. "How bad's the house, if y' know? The outside ain't great but I'd like to know what I'm getting into."

"The outside is the best part, I'm afraid," Freed chuckled a little bitterly, and Laxus glanced up at his face again. On his handsome features – and damn, up close they were pretty handsome – there were slight lines of worry beside his eyes. "I didn't take many pictures as I wasn't in the best of moods, but this is fairly reflective of the entire place."

Freed flicked on his phone a few times, and then showed his screen to Laxus. It took a few seconds for Laxus to actually understand what that was, and when he did he let out an almost impressed sigh and leant back in his chair.

"That's the circuit box?" He laughed, and Freed nodded. "It looks like…"

"It had a violent orgy with a jackhammer, baseball bat and a box of explosives?" Freed completed, and Laxus let out a short bark of laughter, shocking himself.

"Fuck, sorry. I shouldn't laugh," Laxus winced, though he was grinning. When he glanced towards Freed again, he openly saw him smirking at him. If nothing else, at least this proved his boss had a sense of humour. "I didn't expect it, sorry. It does look pretty bad though, if the rest of the house is like that then it's probably gonna take a while to get the place in a liveable state."

"I assumed as much," Freed said with a sigh. "I only intend to stay here for a week, I should clarify. My office may allow me to extend that for another week. I'm hoping that, by then, you'll have begun work and can do so without me. I'll keep in regular contact of course, but I won't be here in person often."

"That's okay. I can deal with that," Laxus nodded as he spoke. He liked working alone. "What do you do, if you don't mind me askin'?"

"I'm a lawyer," Freed waved his hand as he returned his phone to his jacket pocket.

"Fuck. That's pretty-" Hot. "Impressive."

"Thank you," Freed nodded a little. "I don't mean to be abrupt, but I've got to clear some details up with my office, so I'll have to leave you," He pulled a small piece of paper from his pocket. "Here's my card, call me in the evening. We'll discuss things further then. Good day, Laxus."

"Yeah," Laxus nodded. "Speak later."

Freed nodded, and left the restaurant. Laxus allowed his eyes to trail over his retreating figure, roaming over his broad shoulders to his taut waist, then, for a split-second, to his ass. He glanced away, only to see Cana watching him with a judgmental, shit-eating grin.

"I'm gonna fix the fucking toaster," Laxus muttered with a slight blush, standing abruptly. Cana kept smirking. "Fuck off."


	3. The Visitor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Previously: Laxus did battle with a toaster and lost, he is given an opportunity that might reinvent his career and give his life more purpose, and he meets a man that peaks almost all of his interests.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone. Hope you've enjoyed the fic so far. Remember to send some love to [Fuckyeahfraxus](https://fuckyeahfraxus.tumblr.com/) who made the event this was written for. Make sure to check them out, and see the other content made for this event.
> 
> Thank you so much for any comments and kudos you leave. They mean so much. I hope you enjoy and thanks for reading.  
> 

**Chapter Three – The Visitor**

"Here. I wasn't entirely sure what you wanted, so I hope you don't mind black coffee with sugar."

As he spoke, Freed placed the coffee cup onto the splintering kitchen counter, taking a step back and looking down at Laxus. The blonde was lying face up under the sink, a wrench in one hand and a torch in the other. He made a slight noise of affirmation to let Freed know that he had heard him, but didn't make a move to leave his spot under the counter. Freed stepped back, watching the man with a slight raised eyebrow as he grunted.

A moment later, a creaking, snapping sound filled the quiet room and Laxus let out a sound of approval. The wrench was dropped, and after some further grunting and movements that Freed couldn't see, a large crack sounded. Freed winced, but Laxus seemed pleased with it.

"Ha," Laxus almost cheered as he shuffled from under the sink. "Got ya, rusty fucker."

After removing himself entirely from below the kitchen sink, Laxus presented a large curved piece of piping, made presumably out of tin but rusted to the point where it was unrecognizable. Flecks of orange dust fell from it as Laxus tossed it into the large bucket he was using in place of a trash can. He sat up straight, rolled his shoulders, and looked to Freed with a satisfied grin.

"Was working on the bastard all morning," Laxus explained. "And black coffee's great, thanks."

"I assume by the fact you've been working on a single piece of piping all day, we're progressing well?" Freed joked, laughing slightly resignedly at his statement. Laxus sent him an amused grin as he cracked his back and stood up.

"This was keeping them all in place," He nudged the bucket containing the pipe. "The rest 'll be a lot easier. I'll have them all out before lunch and the new ones in by mid-afternoon."

Freed nodded, silently thankful that actual noteworthy work was taking place. He had been in Magnolia for a week at this point, and he and Laxus had spent a lot of time together trying to make any real progress on the house. It was an overwhelming thing to start, and when Laxus had written out a full list of what needed to be done after he'd looked through the place for the first time, the task seemed practically undoable.

But they were working on it. They had decided to take things room by room, starting first on the kitchen as it was both an important room and needed the most work. It was a coin toss between starting there or in the bathroom, and Freed was fairly certain the deciding factor was Laxus' lack of trust for the upstairs floorboards.

The lawyer wondered if Laxus yet regretted it, given he now had a fifteen-minute walk to the nearest public bathroom.

Once they'd started, they'd gotten into a quick routine. Laxus had made it clear that he needed to prioritise his work at the hotel, given that was his more permanent job, and Freed had been fine with it. But apparently Fairy Tail was better managed than Freed had given them credit for, because there had only been two instances where Laxus had been called away from his work at the house, so they had actually managed to do a good amount of work so far.

Not that it looked like that, of course. The kitchen wasn't as derelict looking as it had before, but that was born out of practicality. Laxus couldn't do anything technical with bricks, shattered tiles and awful smelling trash bags covering the floors. Once it had been cleaned to a workable state, Laxus checked over the electrics and the gas to make sure that nothing was going to electrocute them or set off an explosion; he joked that it might damage the property value slightly had someone been enveloped in a fireball.

Freed laughed. Laxus had a good sense of humour.

The sink was the first thing he'd decided to work on. Already he'd installed new faucets, which were working as intended. Unfortunately, this had caused an issue in that the drainage pipe was completely corroded to the point where it was completely useless. This wouldn't have been a problem, had it not been for the fact the water pressure was so high that the faucets wouldn't turn off, and thus the kitchen was flooded with an inch of cold, slightly dirty water.

It hadn't been a good day, but at least it had confirmed that Laxus was the perfect employee for Freed. Because, as Freed angrily stomped through the water and snapped his anger at both the blonde and the room alike, Laxus had openly laughed at him and mocked him for getting so 'pissy about a little bit of water' and claimed 'you are definitely helping when we get to the toilet.'

Freed couldn't work with people who couldn't deal with his temper, as rare as he might show it.

"Didn't think you were gonna be here today," Laxus continued, picking up his coffee and raising it to his lips.

"Evergreen's train got delayed," Freed explained, drinking his own coffee; he would have preferred something a little more interesting, but branded coffee shops apparently hadn't broken into Magnolia yet. "I told her to get a taxi and come here, since she so clearly wants to see the place."

"You know you really ought to be more houseproud," Laxus said in a teasing tone. "A guy your age on the property ladder, ain't nothing to be ashamed of."

"My house is a large gust of wind away from being knocked over and making me liable for the manslaughter of an entire flock of sheep," Freed deadpanned. "And the only reason she's even considering coming here is purely so she can make fun of the fact I now have to deal with this place."

"You don't know that."

"Her last text said she 'was looking forward to seeing the house that the big bad wolf ignored because it was so shit no self-respecting pig would use it,'" Freed said, though a little smile did fight its way onto his face. "She has a habit of being oddly specific when she wants to annoy you or get under your skin. I think it's a trait in all prosecution lawyers. She won't be in here for long though, so don't worry. No doubt she'll start missing the luxuries of the city and demand I take her to the nearest branded store. Unfortunately for her that's a McDonalds, which she hates."

"You can tell you really like all yer friends," Laxus grinned. "The compliments are just flying out of ya."

"She's a wonderful person, but she's definitely a city girl," Freed chuckled. "She probably memorised the map of the subway before she saw an animal that wasn't a pet or in a zoo."

"Big talk coming from a guy who wears Armani to a building site," Laxus smirked, placing his empty coffee cup on the side counter. "You own any clothes that ain't a suit?"

"No," Freed said plainly, and Laxus looked shocked and amused in equal parts. "I wear them for work, I work most days and long hours. Why waste money on things I would only wear in my apartment?"

"I would pay a lot of money to see you in some ratty grass-stained jeans and a fraying old sweater," Laxus laughed, crouching down, and looking at the pipes again. "Just to see what your like without all that city-boy armour and shiny shoes."

Freed frowned a little at that.

He was being judged; that much was obvious. But the flippant way in which Laxus did it, as well as the lack of malice in his tone felt as though it wasn't with ill intent. There didn't seem to be any sense of class-based antagonism, rather just some kind of observation Laxus had made. Of course it was entirely possible that Freed was accustomed to arguments being open and without subtlety because of his work, and Laxus was actually-

"You wanna know how to take out a pipe?" Laxus spoke up again, cutting off Freed's thoughts. "Might save you some money on a plumber if you're ever having trouble at home."

"Of course," Freed said, forgetting the possible insult as he lowered himself to beside Laxus.

The blonde gave a quick explanation as to what Freed needed to do, and what everything under the sink was. There was no level of patronising to his words, and he didn't treat Freed with anything similar to kid gloves. Apparently Freed had proven his practical worth already, and Laxus saw him as something of an equal when it came to getting his hands dirty. He just needed to understand what he needed to do, and he could do it.

Freed found himself quite enjoying some of the practical work that Laxus was teaching him. He had no doubt he was getting the easy jobs – taking out the pipe only required the turning of a wrench at this point – but it was rather satisfying to do something like this.

If nothing else, it was a good distraction.

Under Laxus' instructions, Freed managed to remove the remaining rusted pipes from under the sink. This no doubt took longer than it would have if Laxus had done it himself, but the blonde had seemed willing to act as some kind of plumbing mentor to Freed when he felt it right. A small voice in Freed's mind told him that perhaps Laxus was doing so to get out of working himself, but he shut that thought down quickly. Without Laxus, the work wouldn't be getting done at all. And if Freed ever did need to do any plumbing in his actual life when he returned to the city, he would have the skills to do it himself.

After the pipes had been removed, they both left the shelter of the kitchen sink and stood up again. Laxus went to discard the useless plumbing while claiming he was going to call his supplier to check when the new pipes were coming in. Freed nodded, and walked to the front garden of the house to wash his hands; the hosepipe was working, and the grass was the closest thing to plumbing they had.

As the cold water removed the dirt, he heard a car approaching. The road, he'd found out, didn't lead to much past Albion House, and therefore few cars drove it. When he saw the Taxi's insignia, he smiled. Evergreen left the car a moment later.

"Freed," She shouted with a grin. "Well… holy shit! This is not what I expected."

"Is it better or worse than you thought," Freed smiled, looking over his shoulder at the house.

"I meant your clothes actually," Evergreen laughed, walking forward, and dragging her suitcase behind her. She looked over the house and smiled. "This is pretty much as crappy as I thought it would be, though."

Freed snapped his head up, having been looking down at his outfit and wondering what Evergreen meant. He wasn't wearing anything different from what he normally would, though he had left his jacket over the back of a chair in the kitchen, and he'd rolled his sleeves up so that he could work on the plumbing. But other than that, he wasn't any different to- why were his pants so stained? What even was it? Oil? Where had that come from?

"This is the most presentable part of it, I'm afraid," Freed said, trying not to focus on the oil.

The garden was cleaner than it had been when Freed first saw the house. Just as with the kitchen, practicality dictated that the garden be cleaned up to a point where it wasn't a hazard. There had been lots of thorns, thick grass, and uneven paving. Walking through it was bad enough, but when it came to the point where they needed to bring things into the house, it would be unusable.

Now, it was just an ugly patch of dirt with small patches of badly trimmed grass. Cleaning it, oddly, had been one of the most satisfying things he'd done. It also seemed to be what made Laxus respect his potential for practical skills. Freed was oddly effective with a chainsaw when called upon it.

And Laxus was rather… distracting while wielding a hatchet.

"Would you like a tour, so you can make your mocking accurate?" Freed suggested, snapping his eyes away from the mound of dried dirt. "Laxus is working today, but as long as you don't get in his way it won't matter."

"Sure," Evergreen grinned. "Anything to get away from the smell of manure. How do you deal with it?"

"I suppose I'm getting used to it," Freed shrugged.

He guided his friend into the house, and up the stairs to begin the tour. It didn't take long to show her all of the rooms, all the while explaining what he had planned for each of them while also pointing out anything that could either collapse or hurt her in some way. It was an annoyingly large list; Freed had forgotten just how much needed to be done on the upper floors. Hopefully, it wouldn't be as intricate as the work downstairs at least.

With every room they went into, Evergreen had a comment purpose built to annoy him; all of which he found annoyingly funny. Between the comments, she was informing him on the few things that he had missed both at work and personally. It was nice to have her here, even if just for the day.

"And, as I've mentioned, this is Laxus," Freed made a motion with his hand as they entered the kitchen. "Laxus this is- oh you're under the sink again."

"Give me a second," Laxus muttered from under the sink. He shifted out, standing upright, and looking towards Evergreen with a pleasant smile. "Hey, nice to meet ya. I'd shake your hand, but I've got rust and shit on it, don't wanna give you tetanus or anything."

"It's a pleasure to meet you too," Evergreen smiled. "I hope you don't mean you've got literal shit on your hands."

"Well, I don't think so," Laxus laughed. "But I'm pretty sure a bird was living in the sink at some point, so bird crap is a real possibility."

Evergreen laughed, and Freed found himself smiling slightly. He didn't question why, and instead walked to the shoddy old table that was barely standing, picking up his suit jacket from the chair it was resting on and slipping his arms through it. As they walked through the house, Freed had realised that the charm of the rotting old house – her words, not his – was wearing thin, and she would want to go into the town again. He planned on taking her to a nice tea room, a perfect little middle-class café that she would love. Freed had visited it when the coffee shop had been closed on Sunday; Laxus had recommended it. It was good.

They probably wouldn't allow him to get inside in the state he was in. He really had to wonder exactly how he had gotten in such a state of disrepute. He was normally rather image conscious, as was required of a lawyer. How he'd gotten covered in oil – if that's what it was – was something he couldn't yet fathom.

"We should leave you to your work," Freed interjected as he shucked his jacket to have it better rest on his shoulders. "If you need anything, you know how to reach me."

"Sure," Laxus nodded, reaching for a towel, and rubbing his hands. "Have fun, and it was nice meeting ya Evergreen."

"You too," Evergreen smiled.

After saying their goodbyes, Freed guided Evergreen out of the house and towards the car that he had hired for his time in Magnolia; getting taxis to and from the house every day would be impractical. They climbed into the car together – he even had oil on his face, he realised when he glanced at the mirror – and Freed started the engine.

"I need to go to my room before we go anywhere, make myself more presentable," Freed explained as they left the driveway.

"Sure, that's absolutely fine," Evergreen said, her voice smugger than Freed wanted it to be. "You make yourself nice looking, we'll get some tea and scones, get into a private little corner of the tea room, and then we can talk about the handsome little treat that you've hired for yourself."

Freed's hands clenched around the steering wheel, and let out an annoyed sigh. He supposed this was inevitable.

* * *

The tea rooms were almost painfully middle-class. They wouldn't look at all out of place were they in a soft crime drama shown in the early afternoon of a Sunday. Tablecloths were neatly strewn across tables, with ornate china set before each customer. The smell of freshly baked pastries and cakes, and the gentle heat of a teapot placed before them was a nice treat for Freed's senses; particularly after a morning of smelling mould and dried out dirt.

It would have been ideal, had it not been for the company.

While driving back from the house, Evergreen hadn't been even slightly subtle with her enjoyment of the situation. She was… a good friend to Freed, but often used that position to strongarm her way into his life a little too far. Bickslow did it too, and no doubt that, had he been there with them, he would be just as joyful as Evergreen was.

Freed didn't understand why she was fixating on Laxus in the way she was. Yes, the man was handsome in a conventional way. Yes, they did have something of a rapport between them. Yes, Freed had once confessed he had an odd attraction to men of practicality.

Oh dear god, she was going to be unendurable.

As a member of the staff brought them over their orders – two teas, a slice of chocolate gateau and a cheese scone – Evergreen began grinning unabashedly at Freed. The lawyer looked back at his colleague with an unimpressed expression as he cut into his food. He hoped that his uninterest and distain for what she was doing would be enough of a deterrent to stop her from bringing up Laxus, but obviously luck wasn't on his side.

"Your workman seems nice," She smiled, leaning forward and picking up her teacup. "How did you meet?"

"He works for the hotel," Freed said simply. "He wants to expand his portfolio, I needed assistance. It made sense."

"Well, he certainly seems to be filling your briefs," Evergreen grinned – and oh dear, she was making pseudo-sexual puns. Unendurable indeed. "Almost as well as he was filling out that shirt he was wearing, actually. You could actually see his-"

"I think it's best we begin this conversation by setting up some ground rules for how we can converse when it comes to Mr Dreyar," Freed began, ignoring the muttered 'lawyer voice' under Evergreen's breath. "You may not objectify him, whether in his presence or not. You may not do or say anything to him that would make him uncomfortable or consider ending his employ with me. You may also not imply anything about our relationship, which I feel the need to add, is entirely platonic. He is my employee, we get along well enough, but there is nothing more than that," Freed then glared a little. "And I do not have a lawyer voice. Stop telling people that I do."

"I'll agree to the first two terms without addendum, so long as the latter too are stricken from the record," Evergreen spoke in an actual 'lawyer voice,' unlike Freed, who only had one voice. "Because that is an infringement of both my freedom of speech-"

"Oh for goodness sake."

"My freedom of speech," Evergreen repeated calmly. "As well as a flagrant disregard of my god given right-"

"You're an atheist."

"To annoy my best friend in whatever way possible," Evergreen concluded, and Freed attempted to chastise her with a levelled expression.

"Bickslow is my best friend," Freed said flatly. "You just won't leave me alone."

"If you'd like I can call Bickslow and we can see how he reacts to finding out you've hired the reincarnation of Adonis and made him work on your faulty plumbing, putting him at a high chance of getting wet while he wears jeans tight enough to show off the crease of his ass."

"You're objectifying him again," Freed said, a little firmer this time. "And how closely were you looking?"

"I retract my previous comment," Evergreen nodded, but then smiled without malice and laughed to herself. "Do you think anybody else thinks that our little lawyer arguments are as funny as we do?"

"I doubt it," Freed said, grinning.

They both relaxed into their seats, and Freed brought a small piece of the gateau to his lips. He had been to a good many of the luxurious patisseries in the city, and this was seemingly a good rival for their infinitely more expensive cakes. Though, he wasn't anywhere near an expert on baking, and had someone who knew what they were doing tasted it they could no doubt list off everything wrong with it. But Freed didn't care about that. Those people were miles away.

Evergreen slowly began to nibble away at her own food, and they fell into a comfortable quiet. It was something Freed appreciated with his friends, that they could both allow for silence without seeing it as conversational failure. Their jobs were stressful, it was nice that they could be allowed to decompress around one another.

Though, he knew that Evergreen's teasing wouldn't end. It was just pushed back temporarily.

For a while, that was true. They spoke pleasantly about what Freed had missed while in Magnolia; not much, really. The most interesting thing was that Bickslow had gotten a new case where he would be suing the city for the treatment of children in state funded care homes. Evergreen hadn't been able to give many details of this, however, as they worked for different offices; Bickslow had long since left corporate law and was working for a children's charity as legal counsel. It worked for him, even with a significant pay cut. It was an admirable thing to do.

Unfortunately, news from the city was a limited distraction, and eventually the topic of Freed's new workman reared its ugly head.

"So, let's talk about Laxus," Evergreen began with a smile.

"If we must," Freed gently placed down his fork with a sigh.

"He seems like a nice man," She spoke with an insulation in her voice, but Freed didn't care enough to find out what exactly it was insinuating. "A good sense of humour, he seems to take problems in his stride, good with a tool," Freed raised an eyebrow in warning. "I meant wrenches and hammers and the like. No need to get defensive."

"I wasn't being defensive, I was just maintaining the 'no objectifying' part of our agreement," Freed replied, calmly. "And wondering where exactly you're going with this."

"Well, he's your type," Evergreen shrugged. "I was only joking about you hiring him because of his looks, you know. But, if you wanted to try something with him, I can see why."

"You spoke to him for less than five minutes; you hardly know anything about him."

"I know that you're still here, so you must like him a little bit. Even if it's just platonically," Evergreen smiled. "You're a workaholic Freed, the fact you had a day off to deal with the house at all is kind of surprising. And now you've nearly had two weeks here, and I know that's mainly because of the house but, if you couldn't stand Laxus or he just wasn't interesting, then you would have come back to the city by now."

"So you're implying I should start a relationship with a man because he isn't annoying me to the point where I'll leave him alone in my property just to get away from him?" Freed laughed slightly. "Your view on relationships is concerning."

"Fine fine," Evergreen waved a hand. "I'll let it go. But you could do a lot worse."

Freed, thankful that the topic had been abandoned, lifted the tables teapot into the air to fill his cup again. For the rest of the afternoon tea, they spoke about everything and nothing. Freed, as petty as it might have been, decided to inquire into Evergreen's own relationship status. This was made significantly easier when he saw her eyes wander to a waiter while they were talking. Oddly, after that, she was rushing her drink and wanted to leave. She was red as well.

Her return train was soon arriving at the station, so Freed decided to drive her there rather than making her get another taxi. The traffic was forgiving, meaning that they didn't need to rush. As they walked towards the station, Evergreen hooked her hand between Freed's arm.

"I know you don't like talking about it, but how are you?"

Freed paused for a moment, before speaking. "I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" Evergreen said in an insistent tone. "Because it's okay if you're struggling, or if you don't know-"

"I'm fine," Freed repeated.

"She was your mother, Freed," Evergreen said in a tone so gentle that Freed found himself wishing for the return of her teasing about Laxus. "I know you're not the most… open man with your emotions, but it's overwhelming."

"It's not like we were close," Freed shrugged a little as he spoke. "I'm not going to have a break down because of it. I'll grieve, I'll visit her grave, and I'll be sad. But I won't become an inconsolable mess."

"You can call me if you need to," Evergreen promised, and Freed smiled.

"Your train is coming," He said in response.

Evergreen sighed, accepting that Freed wasn't going to stop being defensive about the situation. She leant up and kissed the man on the cheek, allowing him to do the same in place of a goodbye. She quickly walked towards the train and climbed aboard it, and Freed watched as she left. He smiled, watching as the train went but deciding not to wave as it left. It was pointless to do so, she wouldn't see him. It wasn't that his hand was shaking slightly.

Swallowing slightly, he turned and began to walk back to his car. He busied his mind with the plans of what he would do tomorrow with the house. He didn't have long left before returning to the city, he had to make it count. As he walked, his finger drew patterns on his palm, a habit he started after his father's death, and thought he'd stopped.


	4. The Voicemail

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Previously: Freed was taught valuable plumbing skills by Laxus, Evergreen gave a fair and unbiased review of Albion House, and two old friends had a discussion about the potential relationships between an employer and an employee.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello. Thanks for coming back. Remember to send some love to [Fuckyeahfraxus](https://fuckyeahfraxus.tumblr.com/) who is in charge of Fraxus Day. Make sure to check them out, and see the other content made for this event.
> 
> Thank you so much for any comments and kudos you leave. They mean so much. I hope you enjoy and thanks for reading.  
> 

**Chapter Four – The Voicemail**

It hadn't occurred to Laxus how much he liked having a daily routine until he got one again. The last time he had every day of the week planned out was when he was in high school, as his university schedule was fluid to say the least. The lack of a routine had been a gradual thing, slowly allowing his days merge into a mess of passing the time and occasionally working on things around the hotel. He had been bored for a while now, but hadn't allowed himself to admit it.

Though now, with a day of work always available, Laxus didn't know how he had managed to pass so much time. Although Freed hadn't given him a strict schedule of when he should be working on the house and when he shouldn't – he claimed he knew a man like Laxus wouldn't waste his time, and Laxus was glad of the observation – Laxus had decided on dedicated work hours, planning out his whole day.

At seven, he woke up. At seven thirty, he'd do his daily workout at the gym. At nine, he'd make his rounds around the hotel to see if anything needed fixing or work. At ten, he'd go to the house and do whatever he had planned for the day.

He felt like an adult. It was a good feeling.

Climbing off the leg press and reaching for his towel, Laxus let out a satisfied groan. Morning workouts were new to him, having previously entered the gym in the afternoon for something, anything, to fill the time. He liked it, it was a good start to the day, got his blood pumping, and the cool morning air was refreshing on his still sweating skin on the walk back home.

He patted down the sweat from his face and stood up, walking to a matted area to do his warm-down stretches. He grinned a little at the feeling of burning on his legs, having upped the weights recently. As he walked, he pulled out his phone and flicked it on to see the time. He frowned at his lock screen.

_One Missed Call – Freed Justine._

_One Voicemail – Freed Justine._

Freed was back in Era now, as they had planned. He would spend the weekdays in the city, working in his office and meeting with his friends, while he would return for the weekend to oversee Laxus' work, offer his suggestions on what he was doing, and help out whenever he could; something that was happening more often now that Laxus had taught him a skill or two. This had been working for a few weeks, and they'd gotten it down to a fine art.

Laxus could understand what Freed wanted without much difficulty. Sometimes there was a few issues – where Freed might not know the technical terminology for something and couldn't articulate his wants immediately – but they always quickly got over them. They were a good team, and work on the house was happening fast.

Though, Laxus did miss Freed sometimes. Plumbing was better with company.

Freed was good company.

They had fun.

At least Laxus did, anyway. Freed was somewhat enigmatic at times, but seemed to be enjoying himself. He was private with his emotions, and only smiled – really smiled – when he thought Laxus wasn't looking. Laxus had caught it a few times, and seeing the uncynical expression on the mans usually slightly stifled face was something Laxus was quickly coming to desire more often. He looked good like that.

As he said, they had fun…

Throughout their time working together only on the weekends, Freed had rarely called him. It had only been for specific things, like when a member of the preservation society visited to see their work wasn't destructive. So to see not only a missed call, but a voicemail, was unusual. Freed was a texter more than a caller, in Laxus' admittedly limited experience.

Laxus slightly rushed through his stretches, and once he was done, he walked towards the changing room and lifted his phone to his ear.

"Sorry if I've woken you," Freed began. "But could you perhaps see if I've left something in my room from Sunday."

As he listened and walked towards his locker, Laxus frowned. There was a sort of clipped attitude to Freed's words, and it confused Laxus. He'd always seen Freed as a relaxed man, even though it wasn't obvious. Freed was clearly smart, Laxus wouldn't be shocked if he was a literal genius, and with that there was a level of comfort in his skin. He never second guessed himself because he always thought he was right.

Maybe that was Laxus overthinking things, but that was what he'd concluded. But in his words, Laxus had heard just a hint of panic. It was unlike the man he had known while giving swift demands about what was to happen with his house.

"I brought some of my work over the weekend, you see," Freed continued. "And part of that was a contract that I've been working on. I seem to have left it in my hotel room, and I need to be sure that it's safe. It's confidential, as you can imagine, and I've made a rather large amounts of notes. So if you could call me back, please do."

Laxus ran his towel over his body, blasted himself with a thick layer of deodorant, and picked up his bag. Normally he'd shower and change into something other than his exercise clothes, but the fact that Freed had left a voicemail rather than just requesting a return call via a text meant this was something urgent. Laxus didn't know anything about the law – well, no more than anyone else – but leaving a confidential contract wasn't good. He trusted the people in Fairy Tail not to look at things that weren't for them, but Freed didn't.

As he rushed out of the gym, bag slung over his shoulder, he dialled Freed's number and listened to it ring. After a few moments, Freed answered.

"Laxus," He said in greeting.

"Hey," Laxus replied. "Sorry I missed your call, was at the gym and wasn't paying attention to my phone."

"Oh, that's a coincidence," Freed said with a small, forced laugh. "I just finished my PT session today."

Laxus didn't know Freed went to a personal trainer.

It made sense, he supposed. He was clearly fit, if the contract in width between his shoulders and his waist was telling. And when, two weeks ago, he rolled up his sleeves and showed off his veiny, strong forearms, Laxus might have been distracted to the point of nearly dropping a plank of wood onto his toes. He'd also gotten a glimpse of his biceps, and the plank had nearly splintered in Laxus' grasp.

Well, that was an exaggeration, but it was certainly a distraction.

"Small world," Laxus shrugged, then spoke again in a light, joking tone. Hopefully, he could lighten Freed's mood. "But you know they're a scam right, personal trainers. If you're trying to change your body type they're fine, but if you wanna keep yourself as you are then you don't need one."

"I suppose not," Freed mused, and Laxus grinned a little. When stressed, Freed could be distracted easily, apparently. "I work with him for status, honestly. He's the trainer for the elite, I like that."

"Makes sense, rich boy," Laxus teased with a grin. "I can write you up an exercise list if you want, it'll save you a couple grand."

"That'd be good, thank you," Freed agreed. "Wait, no. Stop distracting me. Have you found it?"

"Saw through that, huh?" Laxus grinned, but continued. "I'm a minute away from the hotel. But, if you did leave it here, the staff ain't gonna do anything with it. They would've handed it in to gramps," Freed made a placating noise. He didn't believe Laxus, clearly. "They're not gonna risk pissing you off Freed, you're basically keeping the place open being here every weekend. We lose you; they lose their jobs."

Freed did let out a laugh, and Laxus grinned at that. "You shouldn't give me that much power, Laxus. I'll misuse it."

"Don't doubt it," Laxus smirked, entering the warmth of Fairy Tail's lobby. He ignored the slight stiffness in Freed's joke, wondering if he had done it just for Laxus' sake. He nodded to Mirajane, who was at the front desk, still speaking into the phone. "Give me a second."

"Of course."

Lowering his phone slightly, Laxus walked to the front desk and leant on it. Mirajane looked the dishevelled man up and down, and her nose twitched at the smell of sweat and deodorant that hit her. She opened her mouth to speak, but Laxus put a hand up to interrupt her. Hopefully, she's understood by the state he was in that he was in a rush.

"You know if Freed left anything in his room? Some paperwork or something?" He asked. "Lisanna cleaned it, right?"

"She mentioned something being left, I think," Mirajane said after a moment thought. "Brown folder, she handed it to Makarov for safety. I think he wanted to let Freed know, but didn't know his number so was waiting for you to come in."

"It'll be in his office, right?" He asked, pushing himself from the desk.

"Yeah, but it's locked. He'll be here in an hour I think."

"Don't worry, I cut a key when I was sixteen," Laxus shrugged, grinning at Mirajane as he walked away, ignoring her when she said that he definitely shouldn't have a key. He brought his phone to his ear as he walked towards his grandfather's office. "They found it. It's locked in Gramp's office. I can look after it if you'd like."

"Well, I suppose I should have mentioned, that I need a copy of it here. Ideally with the notes I've made," Freed explained with a resigned sigh. Laxus bit his lip absently as he rummaged through his grandfather's desk draw, finding a brown folder.

"I could take a picture of each page, if you want," Laxus suggested, flicking open the folder. "'The Merging of Lamia Scale Designs and Mermaid Heel.' That the right contract?"

"That's it, thank you," Freed agreed, still sounding worried. "And you won't be able to send pictures, it's under data protection. If I get found out I'll be taken off the case at least, perhaps demoted for it. And our side will be immediately lose the case because of it."

"Best to avoid that then," Laxus nodded to himself. "I could scan it and email it to you, or is that the same issue? Or I could send it through the post if you can wait that long."

"I need it today," Freed sighed. "And yes, the email is the same issue."

Laxus sighed, running a hand through his hair. He knew that it wasn't really his place to be worried about the situation, but the fact that Freed wasn't as composed as he normally was had a disconcerting effect on Laxus. And, the two men were friends, and nobody would want their friend to feel stressed about potentially losing their job. Especially for something anybody could do; forgetting something at a hotel room was something most people did at some point. Any good friend would try to help.

"Well," Laxus said, clicking his tongue. "What time d'you need it? I can get the train and go to your office. If you don't mind me taking the day off from the house."

Maybe most friends wouldn't go that far. Maybe they would.

"Don't be absurd," Freed almost definitely shook his head as he spoke. "It's a long journey, it would be evening by the time you got home. I couldn't ask you to do that."

"If you need it, then you need it. And I ain't been to Era, so it'll give me an excuse…" Laxus' words trailed off. "What about fax? My grandad is one of like five people to actually have a fax machine for some reason."

"That actually might work," Freed said hesitantly. "The law states we can't replicate documents in a digital format, technically we wouldn't be doing that. So it should be fine."

"Great," Laxus grinned. "You have any idea on how to use the thing, 'cause I don't."

"They're quite simple, really," Freed said, a genuine chuckle entering his voice. Laxus grinned at it. "A child could use it without much explanation."

"You can drop that patronising tone, asshole," Laxus smirked as he spoke, switching on the machine. "And the only kind of child that'd know how to use this piece of shit is a kid from the Victorian years or some crap."

"Implying I'm from the Victorian era?" Freed questioned.

"You'd fit in there, I can imagine you with a stupid top hat and one of those big coats, walking with a cane," Laxus shrugged, squinting at the instructions on the machine's faded screen, absently thinking about just how good Freed would look in period specific clothing. "Think it might suit ya, actually. You'd look pretty s-swish."

Laxus paused. Swish. Swish!

Admittedly there wasn't many words to describe someone appearance that began with the letter 'S', but where the hell had 'swish' come from. Laxus had never said swish in his life, nobody this side of the damn millennium had said the word swish. Sure, he'd gotten away from his immediate reaction to thinking about his boss in old fashioned clothing, but why the hell had he covered it with the word swish. Swish!

At least he was distracted from the fact he almost readily admitted he thought Freed was sexy.

It was both a good and a bad thing, really. It was good, because the fact that Laxus wasn't worried about finding men attractive meant his time in therapy years prior was still hadn't left him, and he hadn't been kidding himself about the comfort he felt for his own sexuality. However, the fact he so nearly blurted out his attraction for Freed – his boss – was something he would have to be careful about.

"Of course I would," Freed said after a moment, voice a little distracted now. He didn't know what Laxus had meant to say, did he? He couldn't. "How are you doing with the fax machine."

"Yeah, you're gonna need to patronise me again, because this fucker ain't easy."

So, with a minimal amount of patronising, Freed walked Laxus through what he needed to do with the machine. It was a relatively easy process, made harder by the fact the screen showing the different options was almost impossible to see. But they'd made it through, and Freed had managed to get a copy of the contract into his office's fax machine without much trouble.

Laxus turned from the machine, only to see his grandfather looking at him, leaning on the doorframe. He hadn't heard the other man, too busy having been focused on the machine and Freed's instructions. How long his grandfather had been there, Laxus didn't know. Nor did he know exactly why the old man was looking at him with a raised eyebrow and an expression that was almost smug. Just as Laxus was about to make a motion to voice his confusion, Freed spoke though his speakers again.

"Thank you for this, Laxus," The mans voice echoed through the room, as Laxus had put him on speaker. It took Laxus a second to realise he had to reply.

"Ain't a problem," Laxus responded, a little self-conscious now. Makarov didn't change his expression. "So, you're fine now, right?"

"For today anyway," Freed sounded tired as he spoke, and the slight shuffling might have been Freed rubbing his eye with the palm of his hand; he'd done that a few times since they'd met. "I'm sure tomorrow will bring a further onslaught of problems."

"Guess that's what it's like being a lawyer," Laxus said with a forced chuckle, glaring at his unmoving grandfather to tell him to leave.

"I suppose so. I'm looking forward to seeing you when I get back at the weekend," Freed sighed tiredly again, and Laxus' gaze flickered over to his phone. "I should go, I have a meeting in fifteen minutes, and I should do at least some preparation for it. I'll talk to you later, I'm sure."

"Yeah, talk later," Laxus parroted, and the line went dead.

For a moment, Laxus and Makarov looked at one another. Laxus still couldn't identify exactly what the expression on his grandfather's face was, and he also couldn't help but feel angry that the older man hadn't left when he saw that Laxus was on a call that was private. But he knew that if he voiced this anger, his grandfather would annoyingly explain that Laxus was in his office, and that he had more a right to be there than Laxus did.

"So," Makarov eventually spoke. "Mirajane said that you came in early."

"You shouldn't have listened into my conversation," Laxus spoke in an annoyingly petulant tone.

"You shouldn't be in my office without my permission," Makarov retorted predicably, and Laxus rolled his eyes. "But I'll forgive you since you clearly needed to use my fax machine for your little phone date."

Laxus stood up – he needed to sit because the machine was tucked under Makarov's desk – and started to walk out of the office. The two of them had a good grandfather and grandson relationship, but Laxus often found the older man to be obnoxious. He made jokes about things that Laxus didn't find funny, with the intent of getting a rise out of Laxus, and the blonde knew that it was best not to give into it. Fucker.

He went to walk past the old man, but Makarov grabbed hold of Laxus' clothing and stopped him from leaving. He stopped, even though he could easily overpower Makarov, and looked down at his grandfather with an expression that clearly stated he didn't want to joke about his relationship with Freed.

"Don't get huffy," Makarov said, no longer teasing. "It just sounded like you were getting on. It was nice to hear you laughing."

"Great," Laxus said, again in a slightly petulant tone.

"You don't need to get defensive," Makarov said, walking into his office. "I was just happy. Most of the people you know live here and have lived here all their lives. And most of your friends are women. It's just nice to see you talking with another man and having fun with him."

"I can know a guy and not want to fuck him," Laxus grunted.

"You can. I was just a little shocked to see you like that. Laughing and joking with him. Especially since he was telling you what to do, you'd get pissy if it were me," Makarov grinned. "But if you say it's platonic, I believe you. I just enjoyed seeing you like that. Give an old man his fancies."

"Can I go?" Laxus muttered.

"If you want," Makarov smiled. "I like him though."

Laxus let out a small huff as Makarov removed his clutch on his clothing. The blonde found himself riled by Makarov's words. Not only had he intentionally tried to make Laxus feel self-conscious about his call with Freed, but he had also given some weird kind of blessing for a relationship between him and Freed. A blessing that Laxus neither wanted, nor needed. Laxus was an adult, not a kid who needed to be told what to do.

And Makarov didn't even know Freed! He was more complex than a call dammit.

But, as he walked away, his mind wondered to the end of his conversation with Freed. He hadn't fully registered it when Freed had said it, but now he thought back Freed's parting words were… interesting.

' _I'm looking forward to seeing you.'_

Not 'I'm looking forward to getting back to Magnolia.' Not 'I'm looking forward to getting to the weekend, so I don't have to worry about work.' Not even 'I'm looking forward to seeing what you've done on the house.' He had very clearly stated that he was looking forward to seeing Laxus. Which was certainly interesting.

And if Laxus found his annoyance at his grandfather dissipating slightly, replaced by a weird fizzy feeling in his stomach, then that was his business and nobody else's.


	5. The Cut

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Previously: Laxus received a voicemail from his boss in which Freed was panicked, the two figure out the inner workings of a fax machine, and a tense conversation occurs between a grandfather and grandson.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello. Thanks for coming back. Remember to send some love to [Fuckyeahfraxus](https://fuckyeahfraxus.tumblr.com/) who is in charge of Fraxus Day. Make sure to check them out, and see the other content made for this event. Just a warning, theres descriptions of blood and discussions of bullying in a school environment in this one.
> 
> Thank you so much for any comments and kudos you leave. They mean so much. I hope you enjoy and thanks for reading.  
> 

**Chapter Five – The Cut**

Melancholy wasn't the word. It wasn't.

Freed wasn't the type of person to get melancholy, he had never been governed by his emotions at all. He didn't look back on things fondly, nor did he feel a sense of sadness when parts of his life were over. Yes, of course things did make him emotional, but he was by no means the type of person to feel sad because something was over. Life moved on quickly, and so must he. It was the rational way to live his life.

It was a mantra he found himself repeating over and over again, as he walked through the house.

The nearly finished house.

The place was by no means a model home, but it worked as it needed to. Windows had been fixed, plumbing and electricals repaired, and structure reinforced. Walls were still stripped with remnants of old-fashioned wallpaper sticking to it, and the floorboards were bare, but it was a house again. It needed love, attention, and upgrading for anyone to actually want it. But it was liveable. Exactly what Freed had wanted. So, following the logic he lived his life by, he should want to sell the place instantly and get back to Era and work on his next case. It was the next logical step, and exactly what he should be doing.

Of course, he wasn't. Because despite it being in contrast with how he'd always lived, Freed felt an odd sense of reluctance to leave. He found himself more than once hovering over the call button on Gildarts' phone number, only to return his phone to his pocket with a muttered complaint of annoyance at himself.

It was pathetic really.

He tried to rationalise it, give his feeling a pragmatic explanation. He said it was because the house was an achievement for him. Something he had done with his hands. A practical achievement that stood out to him because most of his notable work was with the mind. And why would he want to leave something like that? It was a monument to what he could do when he put his mind to it, and he was proud.

But that was a lie, he knew that. The real reason he didn't want to sell the house was because it was the only thing tying him to Magnolia. And he wasn't ready to leave it yet.

Yes, of course he didn't need to own a house to visit the town. He had gained a solid friendship with Laxus, and had gained acquaintances with Laxus' own friends, and so he could justify visiting them from time to time. But the issue lay in that he didn't really want to come back from time to time. He'd gotten used to visiting for the weekends, and he didn't want to stop.

And he couldn't do that now. Not without everyone in the gossiping village knowing why he returned. Because they would, they'd see through it like glass, and Freed wasn't able to deal with that.

He wasn't good at being embarrassed. Never had been.

There were few situations in his life where he had actually been embarrassed, something that happened by design. There had been a few unfortunate instances in his teenage years that find themselves replaying in his head on random nights. So he had made a conscious effort to avoid any situation where embarrassment might occur. It was working well, all in all, and yet this village had this effect on him that made him question the choices that had kept him sane so far.

Freed shook his head. He wasn't getting melancholy, and he certainly wasn't getting self-reflective.

It did nobody any good.

He took a small sponge and slowly wiped down the table in Albion House's kitchen. It had been there when Freed had inherited it, and after Laxus had sanded it down and polished it, it was as workable as the rest of the house. Tonight was the first time the table was going to be used for its actual purpose. He and Laxus were going to have a meal together.

That didn't help the situation.

Because, clearly there was something more. Magnolia was a nice town, and the people in it were good to Freed, but nobody got that sentimental over a collection of buildings. People did, unfortunately, get sentimental about other people.

And annoyingly, Laxus was a good person. He was snarky, and had a bite to him, and he could challenge Freed without blinking. But he was also kind, and helpful, and when he was teaching Freed how to wire a socket or plumb in a toilet, he was patient and made sure to keep the mood light; particularly when Freed was on the edge of smashing the porcelain bastard with the wrench. He was a good man, and seemed to know how to handle Freed in whatever situation he was in.

Also, he was beautiful. Freed had withheld that admission for a while, but since they would likely part ways soon he wanted to be honest. Broad shoulders, a thin waist, striking blonde hair and bright eyes. Evergreen had been right; he was an Adonis.

It didn't help he had a rustic charm that attracted Freed more than it should.

Perhaps it was for the best that they wouldn't see much of each other. Freed wasn't the romantic type, he had more important things to do. And his attraction was born out of proximity. Laxus was an attractive man, but he was just a man. In one years' time, Freed would have forgotten about him, and his life would be normal again.

And hopefully those occasional dreams would pass too. Be them the disgustingly sweet, or the more… intense ones.

"Hey," A voice snapped Freed out of his thoughts. "I think it's clean."

Freed frowned, then looked down to the table he was cleaning. One particular part of the table in particular was shining more than others. Freed's hackles rose slightly at the teasing tone in Laxus' words, but he scolded himself in his head. Laxus hadn't known what he was thinking about, all he'd seen was Freed washing a table for far too long.

"Out of interest," Freed said, cautiously. "How long have you been here?"

"Fifteen minutes," Laxus grinned, raising the two pots of Chinese food. "Food might be cold."

"Fifteen minutes!" Freed exclaimed, almost horrified.

"It was like half a minute, moron," Laxus smirked, walking to the table, and placing their take-out on the table. "What were you thinkin' about that hard?"

"A case," Freed lied. He didn't have an active case at the moment, but he was probably going to be helping with one soon. When he went back to the city. Permanently. "It's nothing too troubling, really. It's actually quite an easy case really, but our client is high profile, and they might use our services again should they need it. So we need to be litigious and cordial."

"Can't imagine you enjoy being cordial," Laxus smirked. "Probably out of practice."

"And for that, I don't think I'll pay for my half of this," Freed said, reaching over and taking the pot of food from Laxus' hand.

"Kinda proving my point there, ain't ya?"

Freed smiled a little as he brought the chopsticks to his lips. They were having a meal together as a sort of goodbye evening – not helping with Freed's refusal to be melancholy about the situation. Because not only did it force him to confront the fact he's leaving, he has to do so with the man who's making it a lot harder to do so. Worse still, Laxus had looked so damn charming with a tediously honest smile when he'd suggested they eat together. It had sent a little jolt through Freed.

Bastard. Maybe he was doing it on purpose.

"I saw Cana while I was waiting for the food," Laxus spoke again, garnering Freed's attention again. "She mentioned that her dad's looking forward to seeing what we've done with the place, apparently he's been excited about it."

"Is he interested in buying it?" Freed asked, frowning.

"He's your estate agent, Freed," Laxus said in a deadpan voice, though he was clearly fighting a smile. "You should know that. It worries me that you don't know that."

"Gildarts is Cana's father?" Freed frowned further. "They have different surnames?"

"Fuck, sometimes I forget you ain't from here," Laxus laughed loudly, leaning back in his chair and grinning. "There's a hell of a lot you don't know, isn't there? Well, guess the best place to start is with Gildarts, ain't it. Or I guess a more accurate name is Gildarts, Man-Whore Extraordinaire."

And thus, Laxus began to tell the rumours and stories about what Gildarts was like when he was younger – he really did seem to earn the title Laxus had given him – before trailing off to the other stories about Magnolia. He spoke about his hometown with a level of enthusiasm that Freed enjoyed watching, and found himself getting enveloped in the worlds that Laxus was describing. Though he might not be quite as eloquent as Freed was, he certainly made up for it with boisterous laughter and an odd amount of glee at exposing his friends embarrassing stories.

It was almost enough to distract Freed from what Laxus had said. _'I forget you ain't from here.'_ It was a little sentence, probably a throwaway thought to Laxus, but it made Freed feel oddly comforted. As if he had been accepted into this little community.

A ridiculous idea, really.

He blinked to stop that train of thought, and focused on the story about Elfman. Apparently he had been dragged into some comic book convention by his sisters and had been forced to dress as a monster from a book series. He apparently hated every moment of it, and Laxus had spent the years following showing the pictures of him in the costume at every opportunity he could. To prove his point, Laxus had pulled out his phone and showed Freed.

It was a better costume that Freed expected. But it revealed far too much for the shy, younger version of Elfman that Laxus had described.

Freed did find himself distracted by Laxus, thankfully. But it wasn't quite enough, because as he listened, he absently lowered his left hand under the table and started to swirl his finger against the palm of his hand. Perhaps he wouldn't have noticed the return of his nervous tick, had it not been for the raised scar that he grazed lightly.

It was new, and when he touched it and thought back to its origin, any lie about not being melancholic was shattered.

* * *

" _Shit. Fuck. Fuck."_

_Freed hissed, pain splitting from his left hand up into his arm. He stepped back slightly, eyes flickering to the large gash that he'd just given himself, along with the thick blood that was fighting to get from it. It was a nasty looking cut, and Freed found himself unable to look away from it._

_Laxus, who had been crouching down and pushing new floorboards into place, glanced towards Freed with a slight grin. The expression fell when he saw blood drip onto the floor, and he stood up quickly and walked to Freed's side. He took Freed's injured hand in his own, and let out a small hiss of sympathy as he saw the cut. Ridiculously, Freed couldn't help but note that Laxus was holding his hand for the first time._

_"That's pretty nasty," Laxus commented._

" _Is it," Freed muttered. "I thought it was a papercut."_

" _Good, if you can be a dick then it ain't that bad," Laxus smiled. "Come on, we need to wash it."_

_Not removing his hand from Freed's wrist, he dragged the lawyer from the cottage's sitting room and into the kitchen. Freed didn't fight it, instead focusing on catching the droplets of blood rather than letting them land on the carpet and stain it. It was a good enough distraction from both the stinging pain that was running through him, and the presence of Laxus being so close._

_It wasn't a distraction from the embarrassment of the situation. Because after being successful at almost every task Laxus had given him, he cut himself sawing off the edge of a floorboard. Out of all the tools he's used, he was bested by a sawblade._

" _This ain't gonna hurt a bit," Laxus promised as he opened the faucet and dragged Freed's hand under the stream of water._

_Laxus Dreyar was a lying bag of shit._

" _Mother fucking crap-whore!" Freed practically yelled. There was a moment of silence, Freed almost panting with pain, and Laxus biting his lip. A second later, a loud, unabashed, raucous laughter filled the room. Laxus actually doubled over he was laughing so much, resting his hands on his thighs while Freed glared at him from the sink. "I'm glad you're enjoying this so much."_

" _I'm sorry," Laxus grinned, something almost akin to a giggle slipping out. "I really am."_

" _No you're not."_

" _I'm not," Laxus agreed. "It was fucking funny, man. I ain't ever seen ya acting like that. Just caught me off guard," He glanced up, met Freed's glare, and burst into laughter again. "I'll get a bandage. I'm sorry."_

" _Thank you," Freed muttered. "And try not to fall, impale yourself on a spike and die. That would be awful."_

" _Don't worry. Only an idiot could get hurt in this place," Laxus laughed again, and if Freed had something in reach, he would have thrown it at the bastard's head._

_When Laxus returned to the kitchen, he was holding the first aid kit that he had insisted they keep in the house; no doubt when the humour of Freed's injury and subsequent cussing died down, Laxus would gloat about how right he was with demanding the first aid kit. He carefully guided Freed's hand out from under the stream of water, and patted it dry softly with a towel. Freed winced a little at the pressure on his cut, but didn't say anything._

_Slowly, with careful and practiced movements, Laxus wrapped the bandage around his hand. He managed to avoid trapping any of his fingers. Though the white fabric did get stained slightly, it seemed to trap the blood from pouring out too badly. The pain was subsiding slightly now, too._

_It allowed him to appreciate how gentle Laxus was being. He wasn't used to thinking of Laxus being gentle._

" _How do you know how to do this?" Freed asked, sitting at the kitchen table._

" _I used to have to do it all the time," Laxus sighed a little as he spoke, removing his hands from the bandage and inspecting his handywork. He looked up to Freed, who was frowning at him slightly. "I had a lot going on when I was a teenager, got into a lot of fights. Well, that's how I saw it. Turns out I was kind of a bully."_

_Freed frowned deeper. "You were?"_

_"Yeah. Didn't think I was, at the time, but I went to therapy for a while and she called me out on it," Laxus shrugged. "But yeah, a couple times a month I'd fight some kid. Had a superiority complex or some shit, wanted everyone to worship me and do what I want. Cringey teenager shit and a lot of aggression, bad mix. Eventually, when the guys started to fight back, I needed to learn some basic first aid."_

_When Laxus looked up, Freed had an expression of curiosity on his face. It clearly wasn't what Laxus had expected._

" _Was it the therapy that made you stop, then?" Freed asked, and Laxus seemed blind sighted for a moment._

" _Er, no. Not exactly," Laxus shook his head. "There were two kids that pissed me off more than most, don't know why. So when things were getting bad, I kinda… targeted them more than anyone else. Natsu and Gajeel, you might have met them at some point. Fireman and mechanic. But they got pissed at me for taking things too far, jumped me, beat the shit out of me, then went to the principal and told him all the shit I've done. Got suspended, thought about myself, and started meetin' with Porlyusica; she's my therapist. She basically listed all the shit I've done and made me be better."_

_Freed took a moment to think through what he'd just heard. It was the best thing to do, he'd found out. Sometimes people let out their biggest, darkest secrets to him – the curse of being a lawyer – and your first thoughts on the matter were often unhelpful. So he took some time, and eventually asked the question that seemed most prudent._

" _Your principal suspended you without evidence?" Freed asked._

" _Oh he had plenty of evidence," Laxus laughed. "Hard to get shit past the guy when he's your grandfather."_

" _Makarov?" Freed frowned._

" _Yeah, used to be in charge of the school. Only retired because the school board forced him to," Laxus grinned. "He started working at the hotel because he found retirement boring," Laxus smiled for a moment at the memory of his grandfather's sudden proclamation he was buying the hotel, before looking back to Freed, smile drooping slightly. "I just admitted to beating up kids and being a bully, why doesn't that bother you?"_

_"Some of my clients intentionally lower their workers' wages to increase their own paycheque, and then laugh about it," Freed shrugged. But Laxus nudged him, sensing there was more. "Nobody was there best in high school, I certainly wasn't."_

" _You were a bully too huh?" Laxus laughed, joking._

" _Well, not exactly, but I wasn't the most kind," Freed leant back in his chair. "I was the smartest person there and wanted people to know it. I would start discussions on test results just so I could make sure everyone knew I'd gotten one hundred percent. And there was one boy, he wasn't the smartest, who sat beside me in most classes. Alphabetised seating plans and all. I could be rather… patronising to him. I think I had a crush on him, in retrospect. It was probably a twisted way of trying to deal with it."_

" _You don't seem like that now," Laxus commented. "Other than when you're joking, but I know that ain't serious. What changed?"_

" _Evergreen and Bickslow essentially told me that if I didn't get over myself, they'd stop being my friends," Freed smiled. "Other than them, I only had my parents. I couldn't lose them."_

_They sat in silence, Freed thinking back to the person he was in high school, Laxus perhaps doing the same thing. It was an odd feeling, sitting with someone who somewhat understood what it was like being ashamed of the person you used to be, but knowing you've grown past them. Most people, if they did feel like that, didn't talk about it. It was nice to know that, in Laxus, he had someone he could relate to._

_It was also nice to know that he had just come out to Laxus and the blonde hadn't so much as blinked._

" _I would have kicked your ass if we went to school together," Laxus declared, smirking._

" _You would have tried," Freed corrected, allowing the mood to be lifted. "But, as a child I was also an award-winning fencer. I would have stabbed you before you could hurt me."_

" _Hard to stab someone when you've been knocked out," Laxus grinned cockily, making a fist. This had the unfortunate side effect of making his bicep flex, and therefore Freed had to avert his gaze._

_They chuckled together, enjoying their joke that wasn't particularly funny. It was relaxing to be around with Laxus, and Freed felt as though he could be honest with him in a way that he couldn't be with others. Perhaps that was because he was the first person Freed had gotten to know deeply since his time in school. But that didn't matter, really. Because the important thing was that he enjoyed Laxus._

" _Come on," Laxus spoke again. "I don't trust my bandage work. Let's go to the doctors, make sure you ain't gonna get infected or some shit."_

_And stupidly, Freed's heart fluttered at that._

* * *

"You really are distracted, ain't ya?"

Freed looked up from his hand, which he had placed on the table and was fiddling with, and towards Laxus. The blonde had an expression unknown to Freed, something between being amused and contemplative. Freed frowned.

"I suppose I am," Freed agreed. "I'm sorry. You wanted to do this and I'm being terrible company. What were you saying?"

"It ain't important," Laxus gave a half shrug. "You wanna tell me what's bothering you?"

"As I said, I've got an upcoming case that could be very good for my company," Freed quickly lied, because the truth was now completely untellable. "It's getting to me a little, but it's not as bad as you might think. I just need to rationalise everything."

"Right. So when I texted Evergreen a second ago and she said you don't have anything planned at work, she was lying?" Laxus crossed his arms, and Freed's eyes narrowed.

"You and Evergreen talk?"

"You can bullshit me all you want, but I'm gonna be able to see through it," Laxus said, ignoring Freed's question. "And you don't have to tell me what's actually bothering you, because if it ain't my business then it ain't my business."

Freed wanted to snipe at him. Ask him why, if he believed his words, was he still talking?

"I'm just gonna say this," Laxus continued. "Nothing has to be done if you don't want it to be."

And, in a way, there was the reality that Freed had been hiding from. Because, as much as he didn't want to leave Magnolia behind, he also didn't want to let himself think he could stay. The hard line he had always drawn with the house was that, once it was functional and sellable, he would sell it and get back to his normal life. Not only was it a goal for him to achieve, but it had also turned into a rule he had to follow.

Because his fondness for both the town and Laxus had been gradual, and it hadn't gone unnoticed by Freed. He told himself he had to leave the place behind at some point, and doing that once the house was sold was a way of holding himself accountable. Once the building work had been completed, there was nothing else for him to do in Magnolia.

But that was a lie.

And the only person keeping him true to the rule was himself.

"I always said that I would sell it once everything was fixed," Freed stated, voice flickering into the lawyer tone he denied having.

"Then say something else," Laxus retorted, as if Freed could do that. "Look, I don't know what your life is like when you're in the city. But I know you seem to like being here. So why don't you just keep coming?"

"I-" Freed paused. He needed to think. "My real life is in the city. I can't-"

"Who says that your real life is just in the city? You've been coming here every weekend for months now, it's as much a part of your life as anything," Laxus stated, and his smile made Freed's resolve crumble slightly.

"I told myself that once the house-"

"This isn't about the house" Laxus insisted. "This is about you, fucking idiot. I think being here makes you happy. And if something makes you happy, why stop because of some bullshit rule you set yourself? That ain't smart."

Freed thought, for a moment.

It was almost nauseating to hear Laxus speaking like this, and Freed couldn't explain why. Well, perhaps he could, but the explanation wasn't something he was willing to entertain. Because the only real reason Laxus would be so insistent on Freed returning to Magnolia as he had been doing was because he wanted to keep seeing Freed. He wanted Freed to stop coming as much as Freed wanted to.

But Freed couldn't allow himself to accept that. Because if he did, he'd start wondering why. And then maybe he'd trick himself into thinking that his silly crush was reciprocated. He couldn't.

"There is… more work I could do," Freed spoke without thinking.

"I guess there is," Laxus nodded. "So you're sticking around? For the house"

"For the house."

It wasn't for the house. They both knew it.


	6. The Carnival

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Previously: Freed came to terms with the reality that he might have to leave Magnolia, a memory of injury and past mistakes occured between the two men, and Freed decided to break one of his own rules.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi. As always, send some love to [Fuckyeahfraxus](https://fuckyeahfraxus.tumblr.com/) who is in charge of Fraxus Day. Make sure to check them out, and see the other content made for this event. No warning this time, hope you enjoy it.
> 
> Thank you so much for any comments and kudos you leave. They mean so much. I hope you enjoy and thanks for reading.  
> 

**Chapter Six – The Carnival**

Every year in Magnolia, there was an autumn festival. Laxus had never understood why they chose late-October to have an open-air fair, or why they had it on one of the large fields atop a hill, where there was absolutely no protection from the wind and cold weather. Most towns and villages would have their annual carnivals in summer, when it wasn't as cold as balls, but Magnolia wasn't most towns.

Laxus had always been a part of the fair. All stalls and attractions were run by members of the town, other than the fairground rides. As such, the wooden huts and games often needed some refurbishment or fixing, so Laxus was always kept busy. He would get calls from the stall owners if something needed to be done throughout the day, and he would do it for a small fee. In previous years, the autumn fair had been how he financed his Christmas presents. But, by working with Freed, he had a lot more money than he knew what to do with.

He still went to the fair though, just as a visitor this year.

Lisanna had been the one to suggest it, saying that this was the first time in years that Laxus could attend purely as a guest. Laxus had tried to say he wasn't a kid anymore, but Makarov had heard Lisanna's suggestion and quickly went on to reminisce, loudly, about how much Laxus had enjoyed the carnival when he was a child. Laxus had agreed to shut the old bastard up.

It wasn't just the two of the, of course. Mirajane and Elfman had been dragged along with them, along with Cana. Laxus had wondered if the hotel would be understaffed, but apparently Makarov could handle things, and that Laxus should focus on having fun.

There was an odd inflection in his words, as if he was not saying something. Laxus didn't question what.

They had been at the fair for over an hour, and had broken off into two unofficial groups. One was made up of Cana and Mirajane, who were playing games, visiting stalls, and enjoying themselves. The other was Laxus, Lisanna and Elfman, who followed behind Mirajane and Cana while trying to figure out if the two of them were actually dating or not. A question that should be a lot easier to answer than it actually was.

"I mean, that has to be flirting, right?" Lisanna whispered, looking at her sister. "Why would they be touching each other so much otherwise?"

"Your sister's a pretty physical person," Laxus shrugged. "And Cana has boundary issues, maybe they're just like that."

"Physical affection between friends is manly!" Elfman proclaimed, getting shushed at by Lisanna and glared at by Laxus.

He wished he wasn't as invested in Cana's potential relationship as he was. But, she and Mirajane had been spending more time together now that Mirajane was working the front desk regularly, and it was entirely possible that Cana's hopelessly pathetic crush – he might have been kinder about it, but her jabs about him and Freed were getting annoying – might actually have a chance of developing. That, and the carnival wasn't aimed at men in their early thirties, so there wasn't all that much to do.

In retrospect, he wondered how he'd enjoyed the fair so much when he was a kid. Even a child could only find limited joy from placing a fake rat in the end of one pipe and hitting it with a paddle at the other end; or throwing a basketball into a hoop that was less than four feet away.

"I still think they're full of shit," Laxus commented. "They both clearly like each other, but don't have the guts to say it out loud. If they ever actually talk about it, it'll probably be too late."

Elfman and Lisanna shared a look, and Laxus decided to believe it was in agreement at his statement.

"I know you keep telling me that it's impossible," Lisanna said, watching as the two women walked to a hook-the-duck stall; the games at the fair was a yearly reminder of how middle-class Magnolia was. "But what if they've been dating since high school, and just won't tell anyone because they think it's funny?"

"You think Cana could keep a secret for that long? She'd tell me just to piss me off about being single," Laxus countered. "The second they finished in bed she'd be texting me about how good Mira is at licking her-" Laxus stopped himself, remembering who he was talking to. Mirajane's younger brother and sister looked at him with equal parts annoyance and disgust. "Sorry, my bad."

"Laxus is right," Elfman began, and Laxus spoke before he could stop himself.

"About your sister being good at licki-" Elfman pushed him away, making him stumble and laugh.

"About them not being able to keep secrets," Elfman corrected, glaring at Laxus, who grinned in response.

It was always more fun pissing people off who could fight back, and Elfman was one of the few people larger than Laxus. And he kind of saw the other man as something of a little brother, not that he'd admit it of course. What kind of non-biological older brother would Laxus be if he didn't annoy and anger the man at every available opportunity? A crappy one, and Laxus couldn't have that on his conscious.

Although, he'd gone easy on Elfman as of late. Most of that was because Elfman was busy, working at the hotel and the tearooms. But also, because Laxus and Freed had been spending a lot of time together, and pissing Freed off was fun. Mainly because Freed shot back, giving just as bad as he got.

It was a shame he wasn't here, actually.

Freed seemed to be hesitant with meeting Laxus outside of work. After he decided to refurbish and modernise Albion House fully, they had continued with their weekends of working together, while Laxus made progress through the week. And that was good, better than not seeing the other man at all, but Laxus had almost hoped that maybe they would see each other in a less professional, more… fun environment. Not that they didn't have fun in the house. It was just that Laxus wanted a little bit more. Perhaps that was selfish.

But Laxus felt that Freed might want that too. The other man could be obtuse at times, but Laxus had gotten good at reading him; at least he thought he had. He couldn't be sure if it was wishful thinking or not, but he felt like Freed wanted more.

So, he had made a decision. He would try to make it clear that he was interested in Freed without saying it, with some lingering looks or too-long touches. Freed was hopefully astute enough to pick up on things, and realise what they meant. And when he did, which he would, Freed could do what he wanted to.

The ball was in his court.

It was cowardly, Laxus knew that.

It wasn't as if he hadn't tried to expand their relationship, bring their friendship out of Albion House. The day before, he had mentioned that he would be going to the carnival with the Strauss' and Cana, saying Freed might enjoy it; heavily implying an invitation. Freed had wished Laxus a nice day, saying that he needed to get in contact with the historical preservation society to see if he could get planning permission for a kitchen extension around the back of the house.

Had it been anyone else, Laxus might have been crestfallen or annoyed. But, as it was Freed, he was more amused. The lawyer probably hadn't noticed the suggestion he come with him.

Still, it would have been nice to have him come.

Maybe he could help find out if Cana and Mirajane were dating. Hell, he couldn't probably walk up to them and ask, unlike the rest of them. Because, in the unlikely but very possible situation where Cana and Mirajane were dating and were keeping it secret for some weird joke, then the gloating from them finally breaking the trio would be unbearable.

"I think they've forgotten about us," Lisanna laughed. "Maybe we should have some fun instead of just following them around. Play some games."

"Which ones?" Laxus asked. "Only interesting one is the shooting range, and you said we ain't allowed to do it."

"Shooting animals in barbaric."

"It's a paintball gun, and the animals are cartoons printed onto paper," Laxus muttered. "It ain't gonna hurt anyone."

"It's a slippery slope," Lisanna crossed her arms.

"You sound like PETA."

"How dare you, PETA is-"

"What about a strength tester?" Elfman interrupted, cutting through the two of them and pointing towards a flashing arcade machine with a punching bag hanging from it. "You and me, Laxus, finally show you how a real man's muscles work, not just those vanity things you have."

"Vanity?" Laxus grinned. "These vanity muscles could kick your ass."

"Let's take it to the machine then," Elfman grinned back, flexing his arm.

The three of them walked to the machine. Lisanna was shaking her head but smiling as she complained about idiot boys. Elfman was rolling up his sleeve, complaining about Laxus' 'fake Hollywood phony' muscles. Laxus was biting back with his own retorts, though lacking a level of bite they normally would.

He was distracted, wondering how cocky Freed might have been in this situation. Even though Laxus was pretty sure he and Elfman would kick his ass at the game, Freed wouldn't entertain the possibility for a second; he'd probably make a bet out of it to prove himself. Smug, over confident asshole.

God Laxus wished he was there. And that was a dangerous thought.

* * *

"So the house is going well then?" Mirajane asked, biting into a doughnut.

It was just the two of them now, still at the fair. Elfman and Cana needed to return to the town for their respective jobs, and Lisanna had eaten too many doughnuts and was undergoing a sugar crash, meaning she was told by her sister to go home and rest rather than being tired for the rest of the day. Laxus felt slightly smug at the yawned complaints from the younger woman, given he had been forced to pay for the doughnuts.

He'd lost the game to Elfman, and paid for food because of a stupid bet. They'd taken advantage.

It was getting to the middle of the afternoon, and some of the stalls were starting to close down. The only reason the two of them remained was because, although he didn't need the money, Laxus wanted to stick around to help fix any of the games that might break. Nobody else could do it, and Laxus felt weirdly loyal to the fairground.

"Yeah, it is," He nodded. "It's still looks like it belongs in the eighties, but it's a lot better than it used to be."

"Do you think Freed would let us take a tour of it before he sells it," Mirajane asked, moving to the side to avoid a running child. "I'm sure the second it goes on the market half the town will be looking through it because they're curious"

"I could ask him," Laxus offered. "He's a perfectionist, though. Might be done before Christmas if we're fast, but it ain't certain."

"Well, I drove past it a few days and it looks great outside. The garden looks lovely," Mirajane praised.

"Thanks," Laxus grinned.

"You did that?" She asked with a warm smile on her face. "I didn't take you as a floral arranger?"

"Well, me and Freed did it together, but I guess I was kind of in charge of what it looked like," The blonde blushed a little, though was angry at himself for doing so. Part of his therapy was coming to terms with parts of himself that weren't, as Elfman would say, manly. "It probably means some weird crap. Did you know flowers were a language? The guy selling them tried to explain it to me, but I just wanted the ones that looked good."

"Well, it does look very nice," Mirajane smiled, but it twisted up a little too far. "You and Freed planted a flowerbed together, did you? That sounds very sweet."

"We ain't doin' this, Mira," Laxus sighed. "I'm getting this from everyone, you can't do it too."

"He's very handsome," She seemed to ignore his complaint, and Laxus sighed in resignation. If he couldn't get fucking Lisanna to stop teasing him, her sister was an impossible task. "He's not the kind of man I thought you'd like, but I suppose I haven't spent much time with- oh, speak of the devil."

Laxus looked up, following Mirajane's gaze, eyes settling on Freed. The man seemed to notice Laxus, and lifted a hand in greeting as he walked towards them. As he got closer, Laxus frowned a little as he noticed Freed's posture and the speed with which he was walking. His shoulders were hunched, pace fast, and his expression forced to be pleasant. It was an expression that he'd seen on Freed a few times, and most of the time it was when he was stressed. Laxus walked forward to meet him, looking him up and down with concern.

"What's up?" He asked in place of a greeting.

"I asked them if building work was possible, they kept me on hold for two hours and twenty-six minutes, with possibly the most annoying music I have ever heard, only to tell me that, according to the basic guidelines, that it isn't possible," Freed almost grunted.

"They couldn't have told you that right away?" Laxus frowned.

"That's exactly what I asked them," Freed laughed bitterly. "Apparently I did so in a 'hostile tone' and that it was bad enough to terminate the phone call."

Laxus really wanted to laugh because that sounded pretty fucking funny. But he didn't.

"What can I do?" Laxus requested.

"You don't need to- that's not why I'm here," Freed shook his head slightly, looking around. "I just wanted to see if this was still happening. You seemed to speak quite highly of the place, and I thought that it would be as good a place as any to distract myself and calm down. Though, if the person who hung up on me is to be believed, it's impossible for me to be calm."

With a grin, Laxus laughed. If Freed was making jokes about his annoyance then pretty soon Laxus would be able to do it as well.

"Well, as the fair's resident handyman, I'll be the best tour guide that you'll get," Laxus grinned, stepping back. "Normally, I'd recommend you go to the strength testing machine so you can punch something, but it's rigged and bullshit."

"It said someone's stronger than you, then?" Freed teased, and Laxus grinned back.

"You feeling cocky? Wanna see who's stronger out of both of us?"

"Well, I already know that I'd win, but if you want your ego to be damaged further then by all means," Freed grinned.

Laxus felt something like glee at the fact he had known exactly how Freed would react when challenged to prove himself in any competition. He wondered how hard it would be to lure the man into a bet, just as he himself had been lured into one earlier. By Mirajane. Who was still there, watching the two of them with a smile that Laxus knew not to trust.

"You don't mind if I show Freed around, right?" He asked her, looking at her in warning.

"Of course not, I was only staying so you wouldn't be wandering around here on your own," She patted Laxus on the shoulder. "I'll go and look after Lisanna. Hopefully, she's not vomiting on the side of the road."

"Is she alright?" Freed asked, voice concerned.

"Oh she's fine, she just doesn't know how to turn down a doughnut when they're freshly made," Mirajane laughed. "I'll see you both soon, I'm sure. And we should have a meal at some point, Freed. You're obviously important to Laxus, it'd be nice to get to know you better," She actually winked. Fucker. "Bye."

Both men wished her a goodbye, and Laxus glared at her as she left.

"So," Freed said, grinning at Laxus. "Strength tester?"

"Strength tester," Laxus nodded.

The two men, for the rest of the afternoon, made their way through almost every game that had any hint of competition to it. The only stalls that they avoided were the ones that had no chance of losing or ending without a prise. They were both openly competitive, and it had made for a fun afternoon. Playful insults were exchanged, and intolerably smug gloating followed every victory. Laxus was loving every moment of it.

He was right. He and Freed got along well outside of the house. Perhaps even better than when they worked together.

And part way through their shared afternoon together, something had struck Laxus. Freed had been stressed and had come to the fair, based off of Laxus' recommendation and perhaps knowing that Laxus would be there. A children's fairground didn't seem to be an obvious place for Freed to visit, so it was likely that he'd only gone there because of Laxus. Sure, it wasn't like Freed had any other friends in Magnolia, but he could have called Evergreen or Bickslow. But he hadn't. He'd come to Laxus to have fun.

It was nice, being Freed's first choice.

"So, you feeling less pissed off now?" Laxus asked, looking to Freed as they walked from a game.

"I believe so," Freed nodded. "I'm still angry that they couldn't be up front, though."

"Anything I can do to help?" Laxus asked, cringing slightly at the neediness he felt his question showed. But Freed didn't seem to notice, as he spoke again.

"Well," Freed said vaguely, and there was something in his voice that most concerned Laxus. "I suppose there is one thing that would definitely cheer me up."

"And that is?" Laxus asked cautiously. Freed didn't respond, instead looking past Laxus with a grin. Laxus followed his gaze and froze. "No."

"But I'm sad, Laxus," Freed said, not sounding sad at all. "And it would make me happy."

"I ain't doing it," Laxus said firmly.

And he wasn't going to do it. He wasn't. Because Freed was looking directly at a dunk tank.

A fucking dunk tank!

"Then I suppose you don't care about me," Freed was grinning, not even trying to sound upset. "I thought we were closer than that, Laxus. I suppose I was wrong."

"Guess you were," Laxus agreed. "Because there's no way I'm getting dropping into cold water in the middle of fucking autumn."

"I remember I used to come to a carnival just like this with my parents," Freed began, feigning sadness, and Laxus didn't think for a second that the topic was dropped. "You know, my parents. Who are both dead. Something that I am very sad about. In fact, I find myself sad all the time. And if there was some way to make me laugh, or bring me joy, it would be incredibly cruel to not do it. As I'm ever so sad."

It took Laxus a second to recover, because wow. Freed was doing this.

"Your mother," Laxus said slowly. "You're actually using your mother's death as a way to get me to play a carnival game. D'you think she'd be happy to know you're doing that?"

"I imagine she'd be delighted I'm being so productive with the situation," Freed grinned, and Laxus laughed. "Okay, guilting you isn't working. What will?"

"I might consider it if you do it first," Laxus smirked, crossing his arms. "I wanna see how serious you are, and if you wanna risk ruining that Armani suit of yours."

"Well, first of all, it's not Armani. It's Burberry, because I have some taste," Freed corrected, and Laxus grinned. "And as I was the one to first come up with the idea, I believe it's only fair that you get in first. That, as well as the fact that I'm so very sad."

"Nah," Laxus shook his head.

Freed sighed, and then pulled an expression that he normally only showed when he was thinking about how to approach a problem with either the house or his work. The fact he was putting this amount of thought into forcing Laxus into a damn dunk tank was both ridiculous and so fucking typical of Freed that Laxus couldn't stop himself from smiling. Only Freed could take something so stupid as this and treat it with the same level of importance as an actual legal trial for a multi-million-dollar company.

"The game is throwing balls at a target, and hitting the middle dunks the victim," Freed clarified, and Laxus raised an eyebrow. This was the first time Freed had gone lawyer mode on him. "I propose a game. I buy three balls. If I dunk you on the first, I win the game and don't have to get in the tank myself. If I dunk you on the second or third throw, you get the same three attempts as I did. If I miss altogether, then I'll pay for as many balls as you need to dunk me."

"And why is there a way for you to avoid getting on the chair altogether, but not me?" Laxus quirked an eyebrow. "And if you say your sad, I'll toss you into the water myself."

Freed thought for a moment. "Because I'm your boss and I'll fire you if you don't."

Obviously that was a joke, and Laxus laughed and shook his head. He could probably keep arguing with Freed, most likely to a point where the idea was either forgotten or presented in a way that wasn't clearly stacked against Laxus, but he wouldn't. Because Freed was clearly enjoying himself, and he had been stressed out for a while with working on the house, and his job.

A bit of cold water couldn't hurt. And he might not get wet, if Freed's aim was bad.

And if he did, well. At least Freed would be happy.

"Fine," Laxus agreed, and Freed smirked. "But if you miss your first throw, I'm gonna make sure I record it as you get dunked and I'm gonna bring it up so much more often than I bring up Elfman's weird monster costume."

"I'm sure you will," Freed grinned.

They two walked towards the dunk tank, spoke with the vendor, and Freed paid for three balls. Laxus removed any valuables that could be damaged by water and sighed as he looked up at the chair suspended over a deep tub of cold water. He climbed the small ladder and sat on the chair, shaking his head when he caught Freed's clear delight at the situation.

"You ain't gonna get me," He informed the lawyer. "If you can't use a saw without cutting yourself, you can't throw a ball."

"Keep thinking that," Freed retorted. "You'll learn otherwise."

Laxus watched as Freed positioned himself on the red circle on the grass. He took one of the baseballs in hand, narrowed his eyes slightly, changed his posture, and threw the ball with a worrying amount of speed. Laxus winced.

He didn't fall.

A muttered cuss and the sound of a ball hitting tarp rather than the wooden target made Laxus grin. So according to their game, Freed was definitely getting in the chair now. And, unlike Freed, Laxus had no intention of missing his first shot. Although he hadn't enjoyed it, Laxus had been in his high-schools baseball team as a pitcher. And hitting the target would be damn easy.

He was about to tell Freed this, when another ball flew through the air and towards the target.

Laxus still didn't fall.

Getting cocky now, Laxus puffed out his chest and laughed. Freed obviously heard this and looked towards him with a glare, which only made Laxus more amused. He was even absently swinging his legs over the water.

"You know that, if you miss this, I'm never gonna let it go, right?" Laxus boasted. "You will never fucking live it down."

"I won't miss," Freed said plainly.

"I hope not," Laxus grinned. "Because you'll look real stupid dripping wet all on yer own."

Freed didn't respond to that. He turned towards the wooden target, took his final ball, readied his position, and threw it through the air.

Laxus felt the chair disappear.

The blonde hit the ice-cold water, letting out a loud and undignified yelp. He shuddered all over, as if pelted by ice, and it took him a second to resurface. He shivered and the autumnal air hit him, feeling a hell of a lot colder now that he was covered in water. He breathed heavily and shivered as he pushed his fringe out of his hair, only to be met with the sight of Freed grinning. Holding his phone, which was clearly recording him.

"Fuck!" Laxus exclaimed, pulling at his sodden clothing that now clung to him. "Fucking hell."

"Is it cold?" Freed asked, and Laxus made his way to the inside ladder to climb out.

"Eat shit," Laxus tried to snap, but his voice quivered slightly as he left the cold water. Droplets hit the ground, and he shook off some of the water. It didn't help, as his clothes were drenched, and his skin covered with the cold water. "Get yer ass up there now, Justine."

"This attraction is closed, sir," A voice said

Laxus paused, then slowly looked towards the dunk tank's vendor.

"Your joking, right?" Laxus said, voice only slightly affected by his shivering now. "You are joking."

"It seems more profitable for me to close it down now, than to keep it open," The vendor shrugged.

For a moment, Laxus had to think about what he had said to understand it. When he finally understood the implication behind the man's words, Laxus' gaze fell onto Freed again, who didn't even have the manners to look ashamed of himself. Instead, he looked incredibly smug about what he had done.

"You bribed him to close it?" Laxus demanded, and Freed smirked wider.

"If you just let me guilt you, you wouldn't feel so betrayed right now," Freed responded. Asshole.

"You know I'm gonna throw you in there, right," Laxus took a step forward, water filled shoes squelching as he did so. "Don't think I won't, or that I can't, because we both saw how much stronger I am than you from that fucking tester."

"I believe you said that the test was rigged," Freed questioned, unmoving

"Doesn't matter," Laxus shrugged. "Because it's pretty fucking obvious that, out of the two of us, I'm bigger."

Laxus hadn't planned it. He hadn't even been aware that he'd done it. But, at one point during their exchange, he had grabbed Freed by the tie. It was meant to be an accompaniment to his threat. A way to let Freed know that, although he wasn't actually angry with him, he was going to throw him into the water to even things out. And it might have worked, had he not been dragging Freed towards him. But now they were close.

They were very close.

So close that Laxus' shivering breath was now hitting Freed's lips. So close that Laxus noticed a small mark below Freed's eye that he's never seen before. So close that he suddenly felt incredibly aware of how his clothes were hugging him now, a feeling that made him seem incredibly vulnerable.

If he leant forward, their lips would touch.

They seemed to realise what had happened at the same time. And for a moment, neither spoke.

"I-I should get home," Laxus eventually said, voice weaker as he let Freed's tie go. "Probably should shower and change."

"Of course," Freed's voice was also distant. "Should I drive you-"

"I can walk, it ain't far," Laxus lied. "See ya."

"Bye," Freed replied, stepping back.

Perhaps stupidly, Laxus turned, stalked away, and refused to look back.


	7. The Shutdown

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Previously: Laxus spent the day at a carnival with his friends, he helped cheer Freed up with a selection of games and a dunk tank, and a close encounter lead to an awkward end to a good day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi. As always, send some love to [Fuckyeahfraxus](https://fuckyeahfraxus.tumblr.com/) who is in charge of Fraxus Day. Make sure to check them out, and see the other content made for this event. There's descriptions of emotional repression, so be aware of that. Hope you enjoy it.
> 
> Thank you so much for any comments and kudos you leave. They mean so much. I hope you enjoy and thanks for reading.  
> 

**Chapter Seven – The Shutdown**

This was pathetic, and Freed knew it.

He was a grown man. He was a lawyer. He was a well-respected member of society who had earned his place on multiple occasions. And yet, apparently, this was what he had resorted to. Switching off his phone while glaring at it, locking himself in his apartment, and refusing to speak to anyone who might want to talk. He had shut himself off completely, like a fucking teenager who didn't know how to handle his emotions.

Which, other than him not being a teenager, was accurate. Because all of this ridiculous behaviour that Freed hated himself for doing – that he couldn't stop himself from doing – was all because he didn't know what to do about what he was feeling.

And he _was_ feeling. He was feeling a lot.

It was something that only added to his annoyance because Freed wasn't an overly emotional person. He was pragmatic, and allowed his feelings to be put to the side to focus on greater tasks. He'd lived his entire life that way, and had done so to great success and happiness, and yet now he felt as though he was fucking drowning in these feelings. In the feelings that he couldn't quantify or push to the side or ignore. And the pure amount of them, the ferocity with which they had hit him, and range of different feelings was just so awful. He couldn't deal with it.

So, he did what he always did when he was overwhelmed. It didn't happen often, and usually only when he was taking on a case that was more troublesome than he had expected, but he had techniques in place that usually helped. He wrote a list of everything that was overwhelming him.

Confusion – He had always lived in Era, and his life resolved around the city. It was confusing to feel so drawn to Magnolia, a place so contrasting to what he knew.

Annoyance – He knew that he wanted Magnolia to be a larger part of his life, but wouldn't say it out loud. His pride was getting in the way, but he couldn't push past it to be honest about his wants.

Anger – He should have spoken to Laxus. He shouldn't have let him go after… what had happened. Because they hadn't spoken since Laxus had left, two weeks ago. And he missed him, more than he could admit to himself. He missed him so much.

Anger – Because he shouldn't have goaded Laxus into a flirtatious competition.

Anger – Because he shouldn't have left the house and gone to the carnival to see Laxus.

Anger – Because he shouldn't have gotten allowed his stupid crush to become more than that.

Anger – Because he shouldn't have let Laxus be anything other than a workman to him.

Anger – Because why couldn't he speak his goddamn mind when it came what he was feeling?

He sighed, slamming his pen onto his desk, and rubbing his eye with the palm of his hand. He looked down at the list with an annoyed expression because it had done exactly what it was meant to do. It had highlighted the greater problem that was worrying Freed, and it was all very clear as to what was actually troubling him. As he always did after finishing a list, he wrote a final point to clarify what was actually happening, and he sighed at his own words.

Attraction – He was drawn to Laxus in a way that he couldn't control. He didn't know what to do with this attraction, but he couldn't stop it. It felt like he was trapped by it.

And for Freed, a man whose emotions had never been an issue, it was concerning.

Worse still, a lot of their time spent together seemed to be cast in a new light now. All of Freed's insistence that Laxus teach him new skills, perhaps that was just a way to get closer to him more often. Their shared meal and the private revelations of their childhoods, maybe that was how Freed was making his relationship with Laxus more personal. The time they spent at the carnival, before the incident after the dunk tank, might have been Freed getting a date from Laxus without even knowing it.

It all made Freed feel rather sick.

One worrisome thought was that he might have manipulated Laxus into friendship unknowingly. But Laxus wasn't that good of an actor, and he seemed to genuinely like Freed. Though that could be because Freed was his boss, and he wanted to get a good reference at the end of their working relationship.

A sharp nocking sound echoed through Freed's empty apartment, cutting off that thought.

He didn't move to answer it, of course. With seemingly a million and one random and predominantly negative thoughts hitting him every second, he wasn't in the mood to greet visitors. The idea of pretending to be happy sounded exhausting, and Freed would much rather gather his thoughts on his own. Though, in reality he would probably try and fail to gather his thoughts, only to be angry at himself for failing, and he'd end up sleeping while enraged.

"If you are not dead in there, I will kill you!" Evergreen yelled, slamming the door again.

"That means she's worried," Another voice followed, lighter sounding than Evergreen's. Bickslow. "But also kinda murderous, so open the door."

Freed sighed, moving from his desk and walking towards the door. Out of everyone he knew, Freed would feel the least amount of guilt for not being polite and engaged with the two of them. And it was entirely possible that if Freed didn't open the door quickly, Evergreen would take it off its hinges. He didn't even know how they'd gotten into the building without having him buzz the door open.

When he opened it, he felt a small flush of guilt overtake him. Bickslow, who was normally grinning wider than Freed thought possible, had a concerned expression. Evergreen was hovering between anger and worry. Freed almost didn't understand the expression, but Evergreen made it easy for him.

By punching him in the chest, then hugging him.

"Motherfucker," She grunted into Freed's chest, and he looked down at her with a frown. He considered speaking, but thought against it. "I was worried about you."

"Why?"

"Because you've been missing for like four days, man," Bickslow said as he walked into Freed's apartment and closed the door; apparently they were staying. "You wouldn't answer your phone or any emails. Normally it feels like you reply to things before we manage to send them," He shrugged. "We wanted to make sure you're okay."

"Well," Freed said slowly. "I am."

"Then I can punch you again," Evergreen grunted, removing herself from Freed's body and slamming her fist into his arm. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Nothing," Freed turned and walked back to his desk. "You know I'm okay, so is there anything else you need?"

Freed knew his friends well, and even though he had turned his back away from them, he knew they'd be exchanging looks in place of a conversation, and it annoyed Freed when his suspicions were confirmed in the window's reflection. He understood that they were worried, and he understood that they were probably angry at him for how he was acting now that they knew he was okay, but they could at least be subtle.

And why were they treating him like a child? He had known and worked with them both for years, and surely he'd proven himself to be a capable adult hundreds of times by now. For heavens sake, when they'd all been in the same office, Freed had always been the project manager. Self-appointed too. But apparently wanting some time alone meant the respect that he had earned had completely gone, and instead had been replaced by a patronising level of care from his friends. His friends who had barged their way into his house uninvited, and were now clearly talking about him behind his back, expecting him to be okay with it.

"I'd like to be left alone," Freed stated, turning to face his friends again. "So if you're going to act like I'm not here, then you might as well leave."

"Come on Freed," Bickslow sighed, and Freed stiffened slightly.

His tone was almost exhausted, as if this was a regular and tedious occurrence. Which it wasn't. This was abnormal, something that Freed had never done before, and he would hope that his friends might respect his wishes about the situation. He was about to voice this annoyance when Evergreen spoke.

"Laxus texted me," She stated, and his eyes flickered over to her.

"Saying what, exactly?" He said slowly, the demand clear. He didn't know what Laxus had thought of the situation, whether he had noticed Freed slightly leaning in when they were face to face, and frankly he was a little scared of what Evergreen was about to say.

"That you didn't leave on the best terms, and that you didn't go back to Magnolia over the weekend," She said, sitting on Freed's sofa and staring him down. "He said you didn't fight, but you've been ignoring his calls. So, what happened?"

"I don't see why I should tell you," Freed walked to his kitchen. He got himself a glass of water, not offering anything to the two of them. He hoped they would understand the passive-aggressive message behind it.

"Because it's making you act like an-"

"What she means is," Bickslow interrupted. "That if you tell us what happened, then we might be able to help out with it. Make you feel a little better."

"I don't need you to make me feel better."

"You need something, baby," Bickslow sighed, looking at Freed with an annoyingly honest smile. It cracked a little at Freed's anger, as Bickslow mostly was exaggerative with his emotions, not honest. "Because, whatever you're doing right now, it's not like you. And it doesn't look very healthy."

Freed looked to where Bickslow was looking, and huffed. It was his trash can, around which were discarded remains of takeout food.

"So I'm no longer allowed to order food for myself?" He snapped.

"Of course you are," Evergreen placated him. "But you always cook for yourself, you always have. It'd be weird for you if you ordered takeout once a week, and this is a lot more than once a week," She sighed as she caught Freed's rolled eyes. "Look, we know it's only a little thing. But you're isolating yourself and not dealing with whatever the problem is, and that's not like you. And if something's affecting you that much, then we just thought that maybe we could help you with it. Even if it's just talking it out together."

"And we can go, if you want," Bickslow continued. "But I think it'd be best if we stayed."

Freed was silent, then huffed quietly. "Tea or coffee?"

After he had prepared them their drinks, and some further light convincing from the two of them, he began to explain what had happened. He only described what he needed to: that he had slowly been getting closer to Laxus over their time together, and that he had been developing a crush. That he felt a draw to Laxus that he couldn't understand, and it was sometimes making things uncomfortable for him.

Then he explained what had happened at the carnival. How he'd been angry, and he'd instinctively gone to Laxus to change that. How they'd spent the afternoon together, doing something very close to flirting. How he'd challenged Laxus to a ridiculous game, and what had happened because of it.

How they'd nearly kissed.

How Laxus had basically fled.

"So," Evergreen spoke up again after Freed had finished. "You did something you regret, and you're embarrassed?"

"Yes, because I'm a child" Freed agreed sarcastically.

"Everyone gets embarrassed Freed, not just kids," Bickslow sighed. "But I don't think that's why you're acting like this. I think the real issue is that you were embarrassed, but it didn't bother you as much as it normally would," Freed's brow furrowed slightly, and Bickslow continued. "You almost forgot to be embarrassed because it didn't matter. You were more worried about the things you did than the situation itself. You only felt embarrassed about it when you had time to think, and that's not normal for you."

"When did you become a psychologist?" Evergreen mumbled.

"Sorry, I just spent a lot of time around them now, with work. It's interesting stuff," Bickslow chuckled to himself, patting Freed's leg. "What I'm trying to say is, I think this is one of the first time's you've kind of wanted to be vulnerable for someone. That you've actually felt that it might be worth it, and it's messing you up a bit."

"I," Freed said slowly. "I suppose that might be possible. It's true that relationships aren't an area of expertise. It's possible that might be a… contributing factor."

"You should talk to him," Evergreen suggested. "It's probably the best way to get past this."

"We nearly kissed one another, and we haven't spoken to each other since then," Freed deflected at the idea, hand wrapping tightly around the mug of tea in his hand. "And he walked away from me the moment it happened. He's hardly enthusiastic about the situation."

"He was overwhelmed," Evergreen exclaimed. "I had to stop him from taking the train up here when he found out we hadn't heard from you for days," Freed scoffed a little at that. "Freed, did it really not occur to you that he might be just as crappy with his emotions as you, he just sucks in a different, more subtle way?"

Freed didn't answer that.

With his lack of an answer, the room fell into an uncomfortable quiet. Freed was now glaring down at his tea, gripping it tightly as a rush of annoyance ran over him. Because, not only had Evergreen and Bickslow acted as if they knew his mind better than he did, but they were also trying to tell him that Laxus might have nearly kissed him as well. It was angering, because even if it was true, they were missing the point.

Laxus wasn't someone Freed could get into a relationship with; he just wasn't. Not only was the man his employee, and therefore dating him would be a large conflict of interest, but he also lived three hours away in a place that was the direct antithesis of Era. As cliché as it was, they were from different worlds.

He had a feeling that, if he said any of that out loud, they'd say he was making excuses.

Maybe he was.

"There's something else we want to talk to you about, too," Evergreen spoke again, and her voice had a cautious edge to it that caught Freed's attention. Pre-emptively, he found himself getting defensive. "We've been talking, and we know it's not your favourite thing to talk about but…"

"The last time we saw you acting like this," Bickslow continued. "It was when your dad died."

"What are you implying?" Freed asked sharply.

"We just thought that maybe the reason you've become so," Evergreen thought for a moment, clearly trying to think of a word that wouldn't antagonise Freed. It probably wouldn't work. "Closed off might be because you don't know how to deal with the fact that she's… gone."

"For god's sake," Freed grunted. "Why are you both so insistent that her death is going to destroy me in some way? I am fine."

And he was. He was perfectly fine. Yes, his mother had died a few months ago, but that didn't mean that Freed had to become an inconsolable mess. That wasn't going to happen with Freed, especially considering how he and his mother had been drifting apart, more so after his father had died. And even if they hadn't separated from one another, it didn't mean that Freed was going to have some kind of break down months after the event. That wasn't something that more emotional people went through, so why the hell did they think Freed would?

It was infuriating to think about, now that he was. The fact that the people closest to him in the world were now trying to instil some kind of grief as an explanation for his behaviour. His behaviour that, in his mind, wasn't even that bad. There had been a bad situation, he took a step back from it and tried to calm himself down. If they thought it was an unhealthy way to deal with it, that was their issue.

"We're worried that you're refusing to talk about something," Bickslow insisted. "We don't want you to be dealing with something bad on your own."

"Well that would be quite difficult given you don't seem to be leaving me alone," Freed snapped.

"Come on man," Bickslow sighed. "You don't need to get-"

"So, just allow me to clarify what's happening," Freed spoke quickly, standing up and pacing. He needed to move. "You came here after speaking to Laxus about me behind my back. Now you're here, with your own ideas about why I'm behaving in a way that you believe is antisocial and unhealthy. You then make me explain the situation in detail, then essentially explain my own feelings to me despite the fact neither of you have a damn clue about what's happening in my mind," Freed was breathing hard now, finger running over his palm and jaw tight. "And now you're ignoring all of that, and trying to bring attention to my mother's death for some reason, despite the fact that you've heard me say that I am fine multiple times."

"Freed," Evergreen said patiently – as if he were a child. Why were they treating him like this! "Maybe you should take a few minutes to-"

"You'd already concluded that my supposed 'shut down' was because of my mother's death, correct? You'd probably spoke about it together before coming here," Freed continued, anger rising still. "So why even mention Laxus? Is it just so you can continue the trend of being overly invasive in my life? The moment you realised I was befriending someone around my age who happened to be my type, you started asking pointless questions and making irritating jokes. Perhaps you just wanted more gossip and saw an opportunity."

"Okay, you're not in the best of moods, I understand," Bickslow sighed, standing up. "Maybe we should go."

"You should," Freed snapped.

"Fine," Evergreen muttered, seemingly annoyed herself now. "But turn your fucking phone on, and if Laxus calls you again then answer, because he's worried," She walked to the door, but turned before leaving. "And when you wanna call us and apologise for that last remark, I'll be waiting."

She left the apartment, huffing. Bickslow sighed, patted Freed on the shoulder with a promise of texting him later, before leaving as well.

Freed deflated slightly, falling into his desk chair while his leg jumped up and down with anxious energy. He ran a hand over his face and spun towards his desk, only to be confronted with the sight of the list he had wrote down earlier. And now, after what his friends had said, it was painfully clear that he had missed one thing that he was feeling more than anything else.

_'Fear – I don't want to be alone.'_

* * *

He'd fallen asleep not long after, curling onto his leather sofa, and drifting off with ease. The sudden rush of adrenaline that had accompanied his anger had deflated not soon after Bickslow and Evergreen had left. It was interesting to know that, after a volatile emotional outburst, you had an overwhelming urge to sleep.

In this situation, you also felt an overwhelming urge to apologise.

Because Bickslow and Evergreen were his friends, and always had been. They weren't the type of people to conspire against him, especially not for something as small as a damn piece of gossip about his relationship with Laxus.

In retrospect, this was entirely obvious. They were good people, and clearly had his best interests at heart. They'd come to his apartment because they were worried about him and they wanted to make sure he was okay, find out what was bothering him, and offer their advice. But, in the moment, he had felt almost attacked by the two of them, as if they were ganging up on him. He had gotten defensive and fought back against what he considered an attack on him.

Now, it felt stupid. And he felt guilty.

Phoning Evergreen would have been the first thing he did after waking up, had it not been his ringing phone being the reason he woke. He took a few second to realise what the sound was, and reached out for his phone from his coffee table; he'd turned the device back on after Evergreen and Bickslow had left. He'd seen a lot of missed texts and calls from his friends when he had.

_Incoming Call: Laxus Dreyar_

He reached for the mug on the table, drinking down the remainder of his now very cold tea. It woke him up slightly, and he answered the call with a small amount of nervousness filling him. They hadn't spoke since the carnival, and Freed didn't know how to deal with the situation.

"Oh, hey," Laxus voice filled Freed's ears. He sounded worried, and Freed frowned. It wasn't nice to know that he was probably to blame for that. "I didn't expect you to answer."

"Well, Evergreen said you were worried," Freed murmured, looking out his window. It was late evening now.

"Yeah, I was," Laxus agreed.

Freed almost sighed, wondering if he would have been able to admit that so openly. With Laxus, maybe he could have.

"She texted me earlier," He continued, and Freed heard a slight shifting from the phone. He absently wondered what he was doing. A ridiculous thought made worse because, if it weren't for his pride, he would have been with Laxus at that moment. "Apparently when she and Bickslow went to your place to talk to you, you kinda exploded at them."

He said that with a slight laugh in his voice, and it grated on Freed's nerves. "I don't appreciate the fact you're talking about me behind my back."

"You kicked your best friends out of your apartment," Laxus said tiredly. "We're just-"

"How did your even get her phone number?" Freed spoke over him, standing up again. "She came to Magnolia once and you spoke for about five minutes at the most."

"She added me on Facebook," Laxus explained.

"So you're not actually texting, then, are you?" Freed demanded, unaware as to why exactly he was so bothered by this little detail. But he was, and the whispered 'fucks sake' from the other side of the phone didn't help his mood. "You're actually using the messenger app, aren't you? Not the texting app. So you haven't been texting one another, you've been messaging each other. Which is a different thing."

"Does it matter?"

"Yes it does, everything matters," Freed snapped. "Details are important to me, Laxus. I need to know the entire story before I can get involved. And if you-"

"Fucks sake," Laxus spoke loudly. "Will you stop fucking talking."

And he did.

"Look, I get that you ain't in a good mood, and that you probably don't wanna deal with me right now. But tough shit. You kept saying you're okay, and that you don't wanna be treated with kid gloves right?" Laxus demanded, and stupidly Freed nodded. "Well that's what I'm gonna do. So we're gonna talk, we're gonna discuss what happened, and I'm gonna make sure you get over it somehow. Because I wasn't happy when you started avoiding me, and I'm sure as hell not letting you ghost your friends and yell at them if it's because of something I did."

"I don't wish to speak about it."

"Well too fucking bad," Laxus retorted. "We're talking about it. So whenever you're ready, we're gonna start."

Despite his annoyed tone, Freed felt that Laxus was allowing him a kindness by letting him start the conversation. At least this way, he was allowed to frame the events in what way he wanted. He was also allowed some time to think, which he desperately needed. He closed his eyes for a moment, and gathered his thoughts before speaking again.

He needed to be honest. Bickslow had been right in that he felt inexplicably comfortable being vulnerable around Laxus, and he needed to take advantage of that.

"I can be obtuse, at times," Freed confessed. "And sometimes I feel compelled to do things that some people might consider… abnormal. For the most part I'm rather strict about it, but with you, I don't know, you sort of have an effect on this filter I've made. Most of the time you probably won't notice, but I doubt I would have asked to be taught plumbing and electrics from anybody else."

"There's nothing wrong with following your instincts," Laxus said calmly, and Freed felt a little struck by the sudden comfort in his voice. "Especially when it comes to what you wanna do."

"Perhaps," Freed agreed, slightly unwillingly. "But, with what happened between us, it shouldn't have happened. I shouldn't have…"

Freed paused. He had to say it. Had to say that he shouldn't have leant in to kiss Laxus. He shouldn't have flirted with him for an afternoon. He shouldn't have gotten so close to him despite knowing both his growing feelings and that a relationship between the two of them would be inappropriate and perhaps impossible.

"…I shouldn't have made you play the game when you clearly didn't want to. I'm sorry."

He closed his eyes, angry at himself now. Why could be not just say what he felt!

"Okay," Laxus said softly, almost as if to himself. "You don't need to feel guilty; about anything that happened. I mean, I wanted to do it too, even if I didn't make it obvious on the day."

The way Laxus was speaking, putting emphasis on certain words, made Freed pay attention. Laxus had perhaps understood that what Freed had meant to apologise for wasn't what he actually said. If that was true, then Laxus had decided that he was going to spare Freed the embarrassment of the situation and instead use the dunk tank as a metaphor. Freed was incredibly thankful, and also almost touched, by the gesture.

"I feel like I pressured you into it," Freed confessed. "That you might have thought I'd actually hold my position against you if you didn't do what I said."

"Freed, I ain't the kind of guy to be intimidated like that. If I thought you were genuinely doing that, I probably would have punched you or something," Laxus said, voice serious enough to calm Freed slightly. "And the fact is, I got up there myself, nobody forced me to do it. I knew the risks and didn't care about it. That was my choice."

A flashed memory of Laxus and Freed's faces being so close, so tantalisingly close flashed into Freed's mind. He reddened slightly at the thought.

"Are you sure?" Freed asked, needing confirmation.

"The only thing about that day that I regretted was leaving the way I did," Laxus said, with honesty in his voice. He then let out a small laugh. "Well, maybe I regret not seeing that the guy running the dunk tank had a towel that I could have used."

"I probably should have told you about that," Freed chuckled quietly.

"You saw it?" Laxus sounded aghast, probably exaggerating his annoyance to calm Freed "Bastard."

"I suppose so," Freed nodded, self-deprecatingly.

"So, are you gonna stop beating yourself up about this now that you know my side?" Laxus asked, voice sounding hopeful now. "Because you've been freaking me out not being here, I've had almost two weeks without smartass comments coming from you," He laughed, before adding honestly. "I missed ya."

"I missed you too," Freed confessed. "I'm sorry. I'll try not to worry you again."

"You don't need to apologise," Laxus assured him. "Well, not to me. Ever might disagree with that."

Freed laughed softly at that, knowing full well that he would have to apologise profusely to his friend very soon. It would most likely be accompanied by a large amount of sucking up to her, to get her favour again. Which of course he would do, because he loved the woman, as antagonising and gossipy as she could be. Though he would have to talk to her about her conversations about him behind his back, as Freed still felt like that was quite invasive.

"Can I- d'you mind if I say something that might be outta line?" Laxus spoke again.

"Of course," Freed said, frowning to himself.

"I think you should move to Magnolia," Laxus rushed his words out slightly, and spoke again before Freed could process what he said. "Not permanently, but maybe until the house is done. I mean you have a place to live there, so it won't cost anything, and I think it could be good to you to get away from Era for a few months."

"You… want me to move to Magnolia?" Freed echoed.

"I know you don't like talking about this, but I think it'll be the only way to come to terms with what happened with your mother," Laxus continued, and Freed went to speak. Laxus got there first. "I get you don't want sympathy, and I'm not giving it to you. But I get what it's like to lose your mother, and have everyone around you expecting you to act in a certain way. It's like they want you to feel sad all the time, and it's like your failing at grief if you're not. People don't get that, but I do."

Freed understood that. Peoples expectations of his grief had bothered him for months.

"W my mom died, I didn't wanna be the sad kid with a dead mom," Laxus sighed. "I did everything I could not to be that kid. But I didn't know what the hell to do, so I just kept going like I was normal. I went to school, I cussed out teachers, I beat kids up. I thought I was fine because everything I was doing was what I normally did. And when I got kicked out, and I lost that structure, I had to get used to who I was now, without her. I couldn't pretend I was who I was before losing her, and had to deal with it."

"So," Freed said after a moment's thinking. "You believe that it would be best for me to leave my normal life so I can… come to terms with her death," He surmised. "Doesn't that seem like I'm running away from the problem?"

"You ain't running away from anything. You're not the type," Laxus had a small smile in his voice. "What you'd be doing is letting yourself grow into the person you are without her, rather than clinging to who you were before."

Freed was silent for a moment, before letting out a single laugh. "You therapist was smart, wasn't she?"

"She was," Laxus agreed.

"Annoying though," Freed continued.

"Definitely," Laxus laughed, before speaking softly. "You're gonna consider it then?"

"I will," Freed nodded.

"Promise me."

"I promise."

"Good," Laxus smiled. "Now, let's talk about you not mentioning the towel to me."

With the joke, Freed felt his relationship to Laxus normalise again. He could almost cry with the relief that flooded through him.


	8. The Smile

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Previously: Freed found himself coping with the carnival situation in an unfortunate way, he pushed away the people who were trying to help him, and he was given a much-needed reality check by his handyman.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello. As always, send some love to [Fuckyeahfraxus](https://fuckyeahfraxus.tumblr.com/) who is in charge of Fraxus Day. Make sure to check them out, and see the other content made for this event. Hope you enjoy the chapter, it's a bit lighter this time. 
> 
> Thank you so much for any comments and kudos you leave. They mean so much. I hope you enjoy and thanks for reading.  
> 

**Chapter Eight – The Smile**

"I get that this is your weird revenge," Bickslow grunted, arms flexing slightly. "But why isn't it just aimed at Freed?"

He grunted with a glare on his face, trying and failing to manoeuvre a double bed through a door far too small for it to fit. Holding the other end of the bed was Laxus, who was also glaring at the furniture while attempting to adjust the angle to get it through the doorway. Sitting atop the windowsill of the bedroom, was Evergreen, who was clearly doing nothing to help with the moving of furniture. In fact, she was absently applying lipstick.

"I made it very clear that I'm not helping move anything," She said as she glared at the reflection in her compact mirror. "Just here for the free pizza."

"We're not having pizza," Freed said from inside the bedroom, where he was placing his clothes in the wardrobe.

"What!" Both Bickslow and Evergreen exclaimed almost simultaneously.

"It's Sunday. Italian place closes on Sundays, and nowhere else serves it in town," Laxus explained, tilting the bed slightly and pulling at it. It slipped through the gap of the doorframe, and allowed the two men to get it into the bedroom. "The only other place is like an hour away, and it tastes like ass anyway."

"As opposed to the Magnolia's pizza," Freed said under his breath. "Which is award winning."

"You act like they poisoned you," Laxus grunted, turning to Freed. "It was a little greasy, that was all. It tasted good."

"There was more grease than there was dough, and it tasted like vomit," Freed met Laxus' eye, a challenging smirk on his face. "And we can't be sure that they didn't poison me, I have a high constitution and may have not noticed it. But I won't risk it again, which is why I chose to move in today, where there wasn't a chance of eating from the hellish place."

And thus, Freed and Laxus engaged into a playful argument between one another about the taste of a pizza they had apparently shared together at some point. Too engrossed in an intense discussion about the merits of thin crust vs deep pan, they missed the silent conversation of expressions between Evergreen and Bickslow. Looks of disbelief and a shocked shake of the head from Bickslow clearly showed just how exhausted with the two men they both were.

Because, although Evergreen had told Bickslow about their clear flirtation, he hadn't believed just how obvious it was. Somehow their argument had gotten to the point where Freed had invited Laxus to have a home cooked pizza Freed would make, on the pretence that he should know what quality food tastes like.

"Weren't kidding, were ya?" Bickslow laughed, and Evergreen shook her head.

"About what?" Freed asked, looking to Bickslow from the wardrobe while frowning. Laxus had a similar expression.

"What are we eating then?" Evergreen deflected, snapping her compact shut.

"Well, Laxus, Bickslow and I will be whatever we feel like from Fairy Tail's restaurant," Free informed her, closing the wardrobe, and walking to the bed, helping the other two men position it correctly. "You will get yourself your own food, and pay for it yourself, given that you haven't helped with moving at all."

"You are paying for my food because you insulted me-"

"I didn't insult you, I kicked you out of my house," Freed smiled. "Something I'm willing to do right now."

"You're awful at grovelling," Evergreen mumbled, jumping off from windowsill and looking around the bedroom which Freed would be staying in. "You really did make this place look great; I didn't think you could do it honestly."

Laxus grinned proudly at the compliment, chuckling quietly when he heard Freed claim he wouldn't have taken on the house as a project if he didn't believe he could make it a sound, high quality home. It was interesting for the blonde to watch as Freed spoke with his friends, as he acted quite similar to the way he acted with Laxus. It was a nice feeling, to be assured that Freed treated him with the same level of affection that he did with the only other people important in his life. Laxus liked knowing that Freed undoubtedly saw him as one of his friends.

Though of course it was perhaps more than that. Because, upon playing and replaying their last moments together in the fairground, Laxus had been sure of one thing. Freed had leant in, possibly to kiss him.

And Laxus had essentially run away.

He found himself pissed off every time he thought back to it, because that was perhaps the worse response to the situation he could have done. He couldn't explain why he'd done it, not even to himself, but he could be sure that it was a mistake. Freed's reaction had made that clear.

Even though Evergreen had assured him it wasn't Laxus' fault, and that Freed was going through a lot and didn't know how to deal with it, Laxus still felt guilty.

Because he really wanted to give Freed that kiss.

But now, all he could do was beat himself up over the fact he hadnt seized the moment when it had been there. He really didn't know why he hadn't. He'd kissed men before, taken a few of them to bed. He'd long since gotten over his internalised homophobia – as Porlyusica had called it – so it wasn't the fact that it was with a man. He'd thought about the fact that Freed was his boss, and found that it didn't bother him; a dark recess of his mind was slightly attracted to the fact. There was only one thing that separated Freed from all the other men he'd been interested in, and Laxus was slightly scared by it.

Freed didn't feel like he'd be a fling, to Laxus. Laxus hadn't ever had a long-term relationship, be it because he only wanted something casual or that he didn't like the guy enough. But with Freed, there was this feeling of… solidity with him. As if he had kissed Freed, the next part of his life would begin. A more adult part of his life.

That was a thought that Laxus pushed to the back of his mind. He didn't like dwelling on the fact he was in his early thirties, and still felt like a kid.

"Yo blondie, come back to us," A loid voice interrupted his thoughts, and he looked at the grinning face of Bickslow.

"Yeah?" He asked, blinking away the thoughts to focus on the other man.

"Freed and Ever went downstairs," Bickslow explained, and Laxus scanned the room to see that it was just him and Bickslow in there now. "We finished putting everything away, so they're ordering the food."

"We're done already?" Laxus frowned.

Freed hadn't brought a lot of his things to Magnolia, given that moving there wasn't a permanent thing. After talking for a while, he and Laxus had decided it would be best if Freed only really moved into the kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom. That way not only would moving in and out be less of a chore, but it also meant they could move the furniture from room to room when they needed to decorate it. But still, even with the small amount of furniture – and shockingly large number of books – Laxus had expected it to take longer.

"Well, I guess it feels pretty quick when you're mooning after the handsome homeowner," Bickslow taunted, grinning. Laxus snapped his eyes to the man. "Oh relax, he can't see it. He's the only one though. But, now we're alone, I kinda wanna have a chat with ya about that."

"This ain't gonna be some 'hurt him I hurt you' crap, is it?" Laxus sighed, perhaps unwisely.

"Nah. If Freed wanted to hurt ya, he could do it himself. He used to fence, might have mentioned it," Bickslow shrugged, sitting on Freed's bed. Laxus joined him, anticipating this was going to be a long conversation.

"Once or twice," Laxus laughed.

"Shocked he didn't bring the trophy with him," Bickslow laughed, before his mood seemed to turn into something more serious. "Look, don't tell him I said any of this, but Freed… he's not the best when it comes to his emotions. He can sometimes kinda bottle his feelings up, not knowing he's doing it. And we kinda think that maybe that's what he's been doing, and me and Ever kinda wanted to ask if you can… keep an eye on him."

Laxus frowned. Freed not being in tune with his emotions wasn't a shock, really. It was why Laxus hadn't brought up what had nearly happened between them. Still, to have it confirmed wasn't the best feeling.

"I guess I can do that," He nodded slowly.

"Don't worry about him, though. It's not like he's gonna burst into tears if you say something wrong or anything," Bickslow hurriedly said. "When he says he's fine, he probably means it. He's not fragile, so don't worry about him. It was just… just make sure he's okay for tonight. He's a city boy, even if he won't admit it. He likes the loudness and the bright lights, and this is kinda the opposite of that. Whenever we stayed at hotels for work that weren't in cities, he used to bring this white noise machine thing with him. I'm sure he's gotten used to it with how many times he's been here, but can you maybe, I dunno, just make sure he ain't too closed off when we're gone. He'll probably be fine, but I can't help worrying."

"Of course," Laxus nodded, feeling a little better at Bickslow's assurances. "If it helps, he seems pretty strong willed. He should be fine."

"He probably will be," Bickslow laughed. "I just get a little worried about him sometimes, I get the same with Ever. They say I'm like their mother," Then he grinned, almost manically. "But he doesn't need his mother anymore, not when he's got his daddy."

Laxus spluttered, turning redder than he had been in quite some time.

Bickslow nudged him, cackling loudly.

"Fucking hell," Laxus muttered under his breath.

"Not that Freed's the type of have a daddy kink," Bickslow continued, as if he hadn't just given Laxus emotion whiplash to the point of speechlessness. "Well, he might like it if you called him daddy. You should try it out some time. Lay the seed, y'know."

"I don't think we're close enough for you to make these jokes," Laxus said, flushing harder now.

"Probably not," Bickslow grinned. "But Freed likes ya, and that means we're friends. And you ain't my friend if I'm not making fun of you at least once a week. Oh, and speaking of that, apparently Freed's gonna ask some hot guy that Ever likes to bring the food, so I wanna make sure I see him. Think the guy's name is Elf… something. I've got a lot of jokes about the elf giving her his package for package for Christmas. Real A-grade material."

He practically jumped off the bed, leaving Laxus alone. The blonde now had a clear understanding of what Freed meant when he said all his friends were forces of nature. He took a few moments to collect himself, both from Bickslow's teasing comments, and the request that Laxus make sure Freed was okay.

Bickslow really did know how to control and steer a conversation. Him being a lawyer made sense.

When Laxus walked to the lower floor of Albion House, he found that the food order had been placed – with Evergreen also getting a meal – and that Freed had been organising the kitchen. Laxus found himself shocked when he saw the number of spices that Freed bad brought with him. He hadn't taken Freed for a chef.

True to his word, Bickslow had quite a few comments prepared for when Elfman arrived to deliver their food. Freed too seemed to enjoy the situation, offering Elfman a tour of the house to extend his time around Evergreen. The poor man had no idea that he was being used to antagonise the woman.

The woman who very clearly had a crush on Elfman. Laxus would have to store than information for later, giving Elfman just as much crap as Evergreen had gotten.

As they ate, Laxus watched as the three friends interacted with one another, often bringing Laxus into the conversation as well. Laxus also began noticing the differences in how Freed treated the two of them compared to how he treated Laxus. With Laxus, in their most relaxed moments, there was always this spark behind Freed's eyes. Often it either led to a stupid competition, playful argument or even a request to learn a new skill. This spark wasn't absent with his other friends, but it seemed different.

With Evergreen, it led to teasing comments and these odd arguments that sounded like they were on trial. With Bickslow, he seemed to have this joyous sense of fun and an entire back catalogue of inside jokes.

It was nice to see him interact with them.

It was nicer knowing that he had his own special relationship with Freed.

Eventually, the two of them needed to leave before the last train left for Era without them. Freed had decided to drive them to the station, leaving Laxus to clean up the take-out containers that remained in the kitchen. As he did, he thought back to Bickslow's request of him and wondered how he would be able to fulfil it.

The obvious answer was that he should have a conversation with Freed, asking if he's okay and seeing if he needed anything from Laxus. But, with Laxus' experience with Freed, he expected that the conversation wouldn't go well. Freed was more of a man of action, and Laxus would respect that.

He spent the rest of his time alone thinking of how he would deal with the situation.

* * *

"I think I should spend the night here."

Laxus had to almost force the words out, having been thinking them over for a good forty minutes now. It was the only thing he could think of that would let him be in a position to be there for Freed, even if the idea itself seemed ridiculous without the context. That was proven concretely when Freed, who had been sitting at the kitchen table, watching the TV they'd installed on one of the counters, looked at him with furrowed eyebrows.

"You what?"

"I think that I should spend the night here," Laxus repeated. "For my own sake, y'know. If I managed to fuck something up with the place that we can only see by being here, I should be around to fix it. Even if it would be kind of funny to see you pissed off in the morning because a window wouldn't shut."

Freed, rather than laughing at Laxus' attempt at a joke, frowned. It worried Laxus.

The other man had been down since dropping Evergreen and Bickslow at the train station. Or at least Laxus was pretty sure that he was, it was entirely possible that Bickslow had gotten into Laxus' head and now Laxus was seeing things that weren't there. It wasn't helpful that, with Freed's habit of being insular with his emotions, Laxus had to look for smaller signs to see how he was feeling. Quirks in his expressions, a change in how he held himself, or differences in how he reacted to things.

But it made sense that Freed would be feeling down. For the whole day he'd been caught up in the whirlwind of moving, and with his friends being there to distract him he wouldn't have had time to think. But being alone on the ride back from the station would have taken any distraction away, possibly making him regret his choice.

"The house is fine," Freed spoke before Laxus could think further. "You've done a good job working on it, and I wouldn't have moved in if I thought otherwise."

"We don't know how it'll work long term though," Laxus continued, acting more nonchalant than he felt. "The heating, for example. We've tested it for like an hour, but never for longer. What if it goes off in the night? It's getting colder, I don't wanna come back here and find a Freed shapes ice sculpture."

"The heating has been on since half two and it's not broken," Freed rebutted, looking at Laxus with confusion. "And there's a fireplace in the bedroom I could use if needs be."

"Okay, but what about the shower," Laxus suggested. "Bet you wash yer hair every morning, right? What if the shower just doesn't work and you look like crap, and that's how the town sees you for the first time? The crazy weird looking guy living in the haunted cottage."

"They have seen me many times," Freed deadpanned. "And it's not haunted."

"There's rumours."

"You started them," Freed exclaimed, though he was fighting a smile now. "What's the real reason you want to stay? And if you make up a hypothetical situation wherein the roof falls in on me and kills me, I will run you over."

"That's a bit of a disproportionate reaction," Laxus mumbled, a grin pulling at his lips.

"You're deflecting," Freed stated.

Laxus sighed. It was perhaps naïve to hope that Freed would just accept that Laxus was going to be staying the night without any questions, but there had been a chance that it would work out. But of course Freed wouldn't just allow Laxus to invade his home, and would have one or two questions about the situation. Which meant that they were going to have a conversation about emotions, something that neither man would particularly be good at.

"Bickslow talked to me while you were ordering food," Laxus confessed, almost laughing at the narrowing of Freed's eyes. "He just wanted me to make sure you ain't too down about not being in Era. So I just thought the best way to do that is actually being here."

"For goodness sake," Freed snapped, rising, and taking out his phone. "Why are they so insistent-"

"Would've done it anyway," Laxus interrupted, thankfully stopping Freed from scrolling to Bickslow's phone number.

"Why?" Freed asked, his tone a mix of anger and confusion.

"Because I care about ya, fuckwit," Laxus said, laughing slightly. "And this ain't some patronising shit where I think you're vulnerable, 'cause I don't. But moving away is a big deal, and you might have been… lost. I mean I remember when I moved to my college dorms and I felt sick not knowing what to do. Era's a lot further away than that place, and a lot more of a culture shift."

"I'm not a college kid, Laxus," Freed sighed, sitting down again. "I'm a grown man."

"Yeah, and one who ain't letting anybody help them," Laxus rebutted, crossing his arms. "You ain't less of a man, and you ain't less independent if you let people look out for ya. Something I'm pretty damn sure you already know."

Freed looked as though he was going to say something, but the stern expression on Laxus' face must have stopped him. He sighed and looked at the table.

"Before my mother died, people were intimidated by me," He began, his tone suggesting this was going to be somewhat confessional. "I was at the top of my field, and that garnered me respect. And then, somehow, it became common knowledge that my mother died, and suddenly the reputation I had changed. I was the person who lost their mother, and I got sympathy. People I didn't know started to treat me as though I would shatter if they said the wrong word. It was infuriating. No, it was degrading."

Laxus could understand that, to an extent. He remembered that, after his mother had died, all the teachers who used to yell at him, give him detention and hated him started to treat him differently. Now their after-class talks weren't about him hurling spit balls and starting fights, they were suddenly inviting him to talk if he needed it. It was a jarring change.

"It feels as though, suddenly who I am isn't important. People would rather I be the victim so they can look after me," Freed leant back in his chair. "I suppose I might be guilty of lashing out at people with the best intentions."

Laxus could understand that too.

"You're allowed to lash out, Freed," Laxus assured him. "And as for people not seeing who you are, you don't gotta worry about that with me. You're the guy who swindled me outta dropping your ass into ice water."

Freed laughed a little at that, and Laxus grinned.

"I'm gonna get you back for that, by the way," The blonde continued, smirking. "But what I'm trying to say is, there are gonna be people who wanna get close because they're patronising assholes who wanna make themselves feel better. And then there's people who care about ya and wanna make sure you're doing alright. You need to figure out who's who, and not push away the good people."

"I know," Freed admitted, voice soft. "And I know you're in the latter group."

"Ah, not really," Laxus laughed. "You wouldn't be so charitable if you knew some of the other ways I was gonna get you outta your funk if I had to."

"Like what?"

"I put a lot of thought into wondering how mad you'd be if I was waiting for you to get back and took the hosepipe to ya the second you were close enough," Laxus grinned.

"How on earth would that have helped my mood?"

"How could you have been all sad and crap if you were standing in the cold, dripping wet, shocked because you don't know why it's happening?" Laxus shrugged, then smirked at his friend's amused expression. "If you do start feeling down at some point I'd be more than happy to take you outside and see how well it works."

"And your obsession with getting me back has nothing to do with that plan?"

"Didn't even entre my mind," Laxus lied with a wide grin.

"You're incorrigible," Freed chuckled, almost to himself. He looked contemplative for a moment before speaking again. "You don't need to stay here, Laxus. I understand why you think you do, and I'm fully prepared to admit that over the last few weeks I haven't been the best version of myself, but I really am fine."

"I know you are," Laxus said with a nod.

And he did. Because, as he looked into Freed's eyes, he saw a level of honesty that Freed usually hid through sarcasm and a quick wit. Laxus thought that, although it was only a small sentence and barely an admission of him not being in the best place, this was Freed's equivalent to a long and heartfelt conversation. And while Laxus hoped that, at some point, he could get more out of Freed, he knew that this was a good step. And Freed wasn't going to lie about that.

The mood seemed to relax after that, and after finishing the remaining food from Fairy Tail's restaurant, Laxus confessed he was getting tired and – as Freed was an awful host who wouldn't allow his friends to stay with him, something which Freed laughed at – would the lawyer mind giving him a ride home.

Freed agreed, and they were outside Laxus' and Makarov's home within the hour.

"You were genuinely going to stay with me, weren't you?" Freed asked, just as Laxus was reaching for the car's door. The blonde stopped, looking to his friends with furrowed brows. Freed's voice was almost… wistful. "If I needed it, you were actually going to give up your night just to make sure that I'm okay. That's a very kind thing to do, Laxus."

"It ain't that kind," Laxus laughed, sitting back in the chair. "Just decent."

"We perhaps have different definitions of decent then," Freed smiled slightly. "I don't know if I can say I'd do the same. Admittedly that's because I refuse to sleep on anything other than a bed, which wouldn't have been available for you."

"I lugged the fucking thing into the house, I would have been in that bed whether you were there or not," Laxus laughed, talking again before he could process what he just said. "You'd have been there for me, even if you don't know it."

"You seem very sure of that," Freed sounded amused. "I'm afraid I'd disappoint you in that situation."

"I know you better than ya think, Freed," Laxus shrugged, opening the door to the car and beginning to climb out. "You're a good person, and a kind person. You're just a dick a lot of the time so it doesn't shine through."

Freed laughed at that.

"I suppose that's fair," He chuckled, leaning slightly so he could look at Laxus as he left the car. Laxus lingered with the door open, resting on it. "Thank you, though. Both for offering to be there and for what you said. It means a lot to me."

"Don't think too much of it," Laxus smiled. "I'm only getting closer to you so that my revenge is that much sweeter."

"I'm sure," Freed grinned. "Goodbye Laxus."

"Bye Freed."

Laxus closed the door, giving him a short wave through the window. As he did, he saw a soft smile of contentment flash across Freed's face, something that he no doubt wasn't meant to see. He looked serein, relaxed, and so beautiful.

In retrospect, that was the moment he fell in love with Freed.


	9. The Hike

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Previosuly: Laxus helped Freed move into his new house, he was tasked to make sure his friend was dealing with the change okay, and he came to a realisation at the side of the road.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello. I'm sure you know by now that [Fuckyeahfraxus](https://fuckyeahfraxus.tumblr.com/) is in charge of Fraxus Day and you should give them some love.
> 
> Thank you so much for any comments and kudos you leave. They mean so much. I hope you enjoy and thanks for reading.  
> 

**Chapter Nine – The Hike**

"As I have stated multiple times," Freed said through gritted teeth. "I have no obligation to work during my time away."

The lawyer was pacing through his home, an agitated expression contorting his features. His left hand clenched and unclenched as he walked around his living room, and he was holding his phone to his ear with enough strength he though it possible he might damage it. He'd been on the call for around twenty minutes at this point, and his patience was wearing very thin.

"And I've told you that your loyalty should be to the company," August, Freed's boss, spat down the microphone. "And you are to be in the office on Saturday to start with your work again. You have been slacking off your duties for too long, and I'm sick of it."

"I haven't been slacking," Freed snapped. "I have been using the contractually obligated time off which I have gathered, something which your HR manager has been insisting I do for months now."

"He didn't mean for this long," August growled. "Taking months off work for some… whim of a project, it's unprofessional. It's selfish."

Freed didn't pay attention to his pacing picking up speed, more agitated anger flooding him in the form of adrenaline. The entire phone call had been like this, and it was pissing Freed off. Because it was Christmas Eve for god's sake, and his boss had called him demanding he cut off his vacation time to work on a project that he had nothing to do with. Not only that, but he had expected Freed to start working on the day after Christmas, which should have been a day off for the entire company no matter what.

The arrogance of the man bothered Freed more than anything. He'd called Freed early in the morning, practically demanded he come into the office, and almost hung up before Freed could deny the request. It was like he felt Freed had nothing to do other than work, an insulting presumption that struck a nerve with Freed.

Because, until recently, it was true.

And, up until August's last comments, that had been the most aggravating thing that his boss had said. But his dismissal of the work he was doing on the house sent a hot flush of anger through the lawyer, as did the insinuation Freed was being selfish. Because in this conversation, Freed was not the selfish one.

"My work on the house happens to be very important to me," Freed said, forcing his voice into a practiced calm. "But that doesn't matter. What matters is, I have legally obtained time off, and you have no ability to demand I work during that time. I will return to the office in January, as I have stated."

"You will mind your place and do as your told," August snapped back, and Freed narrowed his eyes. "How long does it take to fix a damn house anyway?"

"Unimportant," Freed sniped back. "What is important is that I have time off, which I intend to make the best of."

Freed didn't think it would help his case to admit that there was hardly anything else left to do on the house. After moving to Magnolia full time, he and Laxus had been able to prioritise their work on the house and had made good progress with it. The only room left to be modernised and decorated was the bathroom, and that was only because Laxus had been putting off tiling the walls, claiming he had never been good at that.

Furniture had also been moved in, most of it being from what the hotel used before Makarov had renovated it. The purpose of the furniture was so that, when it came to selling the place, it looked more lived in and less sterile. Freed did enjoy having a full house to live in, rather than a few rooms.

"The fact of the matter is, Freed," August continued, and Freed ground his teeth at the sound of his voice. "You're an employee, and you have duties to fulfil. You haven't been doing that, and if you continue to refuse then I might have to rethink your position at our company."

"That would be wrongful dismissal," Freed said firmly. "I have a legal right-"

"Take me to court, kid," August laughed, and it grated on Freed's nerves. "We can see who'll win that. The bratty little fucker, or the respected veteran lawyer who's practiced law in and has earned the praise from every court in the city."

In another situation, Freed would have held his tongue. But he had a limited time left in Magnolia, and he wasn't going to have it cut short. So he spoke.

"If you were that proficient in your job, you wouldn't be begging for my help."

He probably should regret saying it. He didn't.

"How dare you," August snarled, shouting now. "You ought to remember your place in this company, Mr Justine. And while you're doing that you should think about where you want your career to go, because your haviour of the last few weeks has been nothing short of awful. You commit to your job or you lose it."

"I suppose so," Freed growled back. "I wouldn't want to end up in a dead-end job, dictating my ego on people destined to be better at my job than me. Looks what that's done to you."

There was a pulse of silence. Freed still didn't regret his words.

"Be in the office on Saturday or you're fired."

The tome of the call ending rang in Freed's ear, and he lowered his phone to his side. He was still pacing around the living room, filled with anger and adrenaline and annoyance and a lot of other things that he didn't care to identify. Instead, rather than focusing on the threat of dismissal he'd just gotten, he focused his mind on getting rid of the energy that was flooding through him. Because pacing around his living room wasn't helping.

He considered a few things, mind racing as he did so. He thought about going for a jog around the village, but remembered the high street was having a winter market that was blocking off most roads. He considered going to the gym, but didn't know if it was open or not. He momentarily considered punching the tree in the back garden and pretending it's August.

Instead of doing any of that, he pulled out his phone and sent a text.

_To: Laxus_

_How busy are you today? I need to move, and you said that you'd like to take me on a hike at some point, correct? How about later today?_

It took a few minutes for Laxus to reply.

_From: Laxus_

_I'll be at the house in ten minutes. Wear something warm._

* * *

The view from atop Magnolia's mountain was beautiful.

It really highlighted how small the village was, with individual houses seeming like small dots of grey from the distance. The midday sun shone down, highlighting the remaining winter dew on the grass, and flowers that surrounded the two men. Vast expanses of large, green fields could be seen from all angles. It really showed just how incredible the countryside could be. Freed understood why Laxus had been so insistent that Freed summit the mountain before he left.

They two men were alone, leaning against a small stone plinth that marked the top of the mountain, as well as pointing to all points of the compass. Laxus was eating one of the sandwiches that Freed had made for them both, while Freed sipped tea from the plastic mug attached to his flask.

Sitting in silence, Freed felt himself relaxing.

When he'd arrived, Laxus hadnt asked what was wrong with Freed despite clearing sensing there was something. Instead he looked Freed up and down, laughed, and said that god must be real because Freed was wearing something other than a suit. Freed had rolled his eyes, pointing out that he was only wearing jeans and had removed his jacket. Laxus didn't say anything at that, instead grinning and shaking his head slightly. Freed decided not to think too hard at what that meant.

They'd only discussed what was happening with Freed when he had brought it up himself.

And Laxus had given him good advice, though not exactly what he wanted to hear. He said that, given how little work Freed needed to do, maybe he should return to work to keep his boss happy. It was probably the right thing to do, but Freed was hesitant to accept it.

Because once he started going back to work, it felt like the end of his time in Magnolia. He wasn't ready for that yet.

But now they were just enjoying their time together, alone. With just the sound of nature surrounding them, it was relaxing. Freed hadn't noticed until that point how little of his time with Laxus had really been relaxing. How they'd always had a task to complete, or something to distract them. But this was nice.

"Why did you come here?" Laxus asked after a while, and Freed looked towards him slowly.

"You insisted the view was important to see," Freed explained, frowning. He trusted Laxus' opinion, did he not know that.

"No, I meant magnolia," Laxus laughed. "I'm not gonna pretend I know much about the law, but I'm pretty sure that if you don't want an inheritance you can deny it right?" He shrugged. "I mean I'm glad you ended up coming here, but it would have been easier not to have a load of debt."

Freed sighed. This was something he had kept to himself since he had attended the reading of the will, and hadn't intended to explain his reasons. But, well, Laxus seemed to be the exception to that. He'd made it clear that he wasn't going to judge Freed or change his opinion of him, so he felt a level of safety with the man.

Laxus was security.

"I never really understood my mother," He admitted. "She was always an anomaly to me, never really made sense. I think she might have felt the same way about me, that was why we were never close."

He could feel Laxus looking at him, and was shocked to feel that he didn't feel uncomfortable about it.

"When Natsu was reading the will, I expected to just dismiss it all and say I didn't want it. He started with the debt, you see, and most of her belongings were sold to diminish it slightly," Freed placed the half empty cup of tea on the grass they sat on. "I was willing – well, perhaps resigned was the correct word. I was resigned to admit that I would never really know who she was, and that I'd have to live with that. And then, there was a house."

Freed laughed at himself, a little self pityingly. He could remember sitting in Natsu's office, almost blind sighted by the fact that his mother had property that nobody had heard of. A flash of romanticised ideas had flowed through Freed, as if his mother had a secret life she had kept hidden from me.

"I thought that it might fill in some of the blanks, allow me to feel closer to her," He shrugged. "It was stupid, in retrospect. It wasn't a secret life or unfulfilled potential; it was a bad investment. So I learned nothing about her and ended up with a large amount of debt."

"I'm sorry you feel that way," Laxus said quietly.

"Please don't be. You're one of the few good things that has come out of her death, don't feel bad about it," Freed chuckle weakly. "I just wished she was more than the somewhat closed off woman with an apparent gambling addiction."

Laxus was quiet for a moment. "How d'you think you'll handle tomorrow without her? You said that Christmas is the only time you'd get together, right?"

"Yes. It'll be… I don't know, really," Freed admitted. "I'm spending most of the day with Ever and Bickslow, so I won't be alone at least. And our Christmas dinners together were always awkward anyway, we'd go to expensive restaurants and make small talk for hours. Arguably this might be a better day, but who knows how I'll be when it starts."

"You can call me, if you want," Laxus offered. "If you wanna talk or anything."

"I might," Freed nodded slightly. "Thank you, it's kind of you to offer."

Laxus smiled a little, and Freed closed his eyes softly. He was tired and, maybe against his better judgment, he slid down and rested his head on Laxus' shoulder. The other man didn't react to it in a way Freed could see, and the lawyer let out a long breath that clouded in the cold air. He felt his muscles relax and his tenseness dissipate.

"I wish I'd met you at a different time in my life," Freed admitted, eyes still closed. "When I was in a better place, not all… fluctuating like I am right now. I feel like all I do is force you to deal with my problems."

"You do a lot more than that, and I think you know it," Laxus had a small smile in his voice. "And if I didn't meet you like this, then I probably wouldn't have met you at all. So I'm fine with it."

"I expect I'd be a lot easier to like had we met a year ago," Freed laughed to himself.

"I like you as you are Freed," Laxus assured him, patting his knee. "I promise you; I wouldn't change it. No matter what."

Freed didn't say anything. He let his eyes remain closed and the cool wind to flow over him.

* * *

They spent most of the day at the mountain together, and by the time Freed had driven Laxus to his home it was early evening. The sun had started to set, and it left a beautiful orange covering the elegant village. As Freed slowed his car to the front of Laxus' house, he had a soft and uncynical smile on his face.

He'd been wearing it for most of the day, now. Ever since Laxus had said… what he'd said, Freed had been fighting a losing battle against a feeling of contentment and comfort.

Really, it was probably an overreaction.

But Laxus wasn't the most emotional person, even if it seemed hypocritical of Freed to think that. Despite that, Laxus' claim that he liked Freed as he was, and that he wouldn't change the way they had met, seemed honest in an almost raw way. There was a weight to the words and, although Freed couldn't yet understand what the weight actually meant, he felt a flush overtake him every time he looked back to the moment. It didn't help that, every time he looked towards Laxus, he was illuminated by the setting sun and looked beautiful in a way Freed couldn't put into words.

The car stopped and, rather than getting out of it, Laxus looked to Freed with a soft expression. It reminded him of his first night living in Magnolia, where they'd sat in the car together and Freed had spent the rest of the night feeling this same level of safety and comfort that he felt now.

"You know what you're gonna do with your job?" Laxus asked.

"Not really," Freed admitted. "I'll think it through tonight, and I can ask Ever and Bickslow for their advice as well."

"Don't stress yourself out too much, the guy probably didn't mean he'd fire you," Laxus grinned slightly. "He was just pissed off you insulted him. You're really not meant to do that to your boss."

"You've never worked in law," Freed chuckled, looking into Laxus' eyes. They were closer than Freed had thought. He swallowed before speaking. "Thank you, for all the things you've done for me. I know you were dismissive about it before, but it really means something to me that you help me as much as you do."

"You help me a lot, too," Laxus said, smiling again. "I mean you might not have noticed it, but I used to kind of just get through each day without really caring about it. Working on the house has been helping me get a bit of purpose. And y'know, I like spending time with ya. That counts for something. So don't act like this is some one-sided thing."

"Perhaps," Freed nodded. "But, you really have helped me. So thank you."

"No need to," Laxus smiled. "But you're welcome."

Freed could feel Laxus' breath on his face, and flashes of memory hit him from the incident at the carnival. He swallowed again, but this time he felt Laxus' eyes looking over him. Scanning his features, as if realising the closeness of the two of them just as Freed had.

His heart pulsed faster.

Seemingly every moment of their friendship hit him. Their first meeting, their shared meals when working on the house, their pseudo-date at the carnival, their almost kiss, their conversations shared in vulnerable moments, how Laxus had somehow become the person Freed relied on when he needed support and comfort. Then, the two of them sitting atop the mountain, Freed with his head resting on Laxus' shoulder, became a memory that he couldn't rid himself of.

He could still feel Laxus' breath on him, and there was a slight tilt in Laxus' head. They were so close.

Almost tentatively, he moved forward. Laxus did the same.

Then another inch. Then another.

Their lips touched, and it was magic.

Elegance was lost on them, as they slowly moved their lips together. Teeth occasionally butted against teeth, the angle wasn't quite right for them, but Freed practically melted into it. The feeling of Laxus' slightly chapped lips against his against his own was euphoria in a way he couldn't believe. He'd kissed men before, and it had always been good, but never like this. There was never anything as… overwhelming as this.

But it was over as fast as it began.

Laxus had pulled away, and they looked at each other in silence. Their lips still red, eyes slightly wide at what they had done. They took a moment to catch their breath, and Freed felt a warm swirl fill his stomach at the tingling sensation on his lips. But it couldn't last long, and Laxus spoke soon after.

"We shouldn't," He spoke so softly, almost regrettably. Freed's stomach clenched slightly.

"Shouldn't we?" He whispered.

"I want to, don't think I don't because I really do," Laxus assured him, and his forehead pressed against Freed's. "But we can't do it. You've only got a few weeks here left, and I know that when you go back things are gonna be different. You won't be able to come back here as often and I might be working more and it just… I can't do that. We can't do that."

"I-I suppose not," Freed admitted, trying to fight the growing dread in him. "But, we could have tonight."

"What?"

"This is selfish and short sighted, and I understand that," Freed whispered. "But I adore you Laxus, more than I thought I could, and I think you might think the same of me. So, even though this might be a mistake, I think we owe it to ourselves. If only for one night."

Laxus surged forward suddenly, pressing their lips together and kissing Freed stronger, with more passion this time. They were already more comfortable in their actions this time, and they pressed into one another. It was incredible, but Laxus pulled away from him. He had a clearly conflicted expression, and Freed closed his eyes.

"We can't," Laxus repeated, regret filling his tone. "I'd love to, but if we kiss again then I don't think I'll be able to stop."

Had he been in any different mood, on any different day, Freed would have left it there. But the comfort and support that Laxus gave him was overtaking his senses, and all he could think of every time he closed his eyes was the feeling of Laxus' shoulder under his cheek as he sat on the mountain. Laxus was addictive to Freed, and he felt as though he deserved to indulge himself.

He leant forward, and kissed Laxus again.

Laxus moved against him, kissing him strongly and placing his hand on the back of his head to pull him in closer. Freed groaned softly as every sense was assaulted by the delightful power that Laxus exuded. His scent, the feel of him, the presence of the man.

"Only tonight," Laxus parroted softly.

"Only tonight," Freed promised.

"Well," Laxus whispered. "Better start driving again."

Freed did just that, leaning away from Laxus with slightly swollen lips and an expression of contentment on his face. He shifted the car into drive and began the journey towards Albion House. As he did, there were two things that he couldn't ignore.

One, Laxus' hand occasionally grazed his when using the gear shift, and each time it sent a thrill down his spine and into his stomach. It was just as magical as their kisses.

Two, the weight of his phone in his pocket, and the heaviness of the unsent email that he had drafted on his phone, which he had written as they walked down the mountain.

A letter of resignation.

One he was undecided if he should send or not.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Holidays.


	10. The Holidays

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Previously: Freed endured an unfair phone call with his boss and was given an ultimatum, he vents his frustration by hiking up mountains of Magnolia, and he and Laxus decided to give into their urges for a single night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello. I'm sure you know by now that [Fuckyeahfraxus](https://fuckyeahfraxus.tumblr.com/) is in charge of Fraxus Day and you should give them some love.
> 
> Thank you so much for any comments and kudos you leave. They mean so much. I hope you enjoy and thanks for reading.  
> 

**Chapter Ten – The Holidays**

They hadn't spoken about it. They hadn't spoken about anything. They hadn't even seen each other since it happened.

Laxus had woken up in Freed's bed, wrapped up in the man's crisp sheets without a bedpartner. The sound of movement had stirred him, and through bleary eyes he had seen Freed moving through his bedroom. He'd watched as Freed had retreated quietly into the cottage's bathroom, followed by the sound of a shower. He returned a little bit later, to dress himself, and for reasons he couldn't explain Laxus pretended to be asleep.

With closed eyes, he had heard Freed's sigh. He'd shaken Laxus' shoulder to wake him, but the blonde continued to keep up the pretence of sleep. He had eventually given up, and the sound of pen against paper filled the room. Laxus should have made it known he was awake at that point, but he didn't.

And then Freed left, but not before gifting Laxus a featherlight kiss and whispering, "Happy Christmas my love."

Laxus only opened his eyes when he heard the locking of the front door followed by the sound of Freed's car engine starting. When he did, he sat up in Freed's large bed and rested against the headboard with a sigh, already regretting his stupid decision to remain silent as Freed woke. But he couldn't hang out the window, yelling in the hope that Freed would hear him and turn around so that Laxus could…

Could do what exactly?

Thank him for a night he would most likely never forget? Try to take back his words and all but beg for the opportunity to see if a long-distance relationship could work between them despite his disdain for them? Convince both Freed and himself that he wouldn't mind battling Freed's job for the man's attention for as long as they were together? It wasn't… those weren't things that Laxus could do.

So instead, he had sighed, and looked to the bedside table where Freed had written a note for him to find. A note that Laxus still had on his person, tucked into his jeans pocket, a week later.

It was pathetic really.

New Year's Eve was meant to be a night of celebration for young people, if Laxus could still be considered young. Admittedly, living in a town like Magnolia meant there wasn't much to do on New Year's Eve other than a few bars, but at least that would have been something. But, instead of doing that, he found himself at his grandfather's party, surrounded by people considerably older than he was. He was sat on the sofa, attempting to find some entertainment in the TV coverage of New Years in Era.

The location felt like a kick in the teeth. Because Freed would most probably be out there somewhere, with Evergreen and Bickslow, enjoying themselves and taking advantage of the night long party that the city became. Perhaps Laxus should have asked Freed if he could go with them.

He'd been tempted. But after what had happened, Laxus didn't know what to say to him.

They'd texted a couple of times, but never anything of substance. Laxus had wished Freed a Happy Christmas, they'd had some small talk but that was it. Laxus had wanted to ask how he was coping without any family members throughout the day, remembering how bad the holidays had been without his mother for his first time, but couldn't find the guts to press send. It was ridiculous, because before their night together things had been so easy. But after, Laxus didn't quite no where he stood with Freed.

Because the end date was coming. Only the bathroom needed to be finished in the house, and that would take a few days at most. Once that was finished, Freed would look into selling it, and his time spent in Magnolia would be over. And Laxus couldn't help but wonder if their promise of only having one night together was meant to be an ending to their relationship as a whole.

It was a thought he tried not to linger on.

And to stop it from ruining his mood, he stood and walked to the kitchen, where an array of drinks had been placed for anyone to take. Laxus picked up one of the flimsy plastic cups and assessed all of the drinks on offer, before settling on beer. He doubted his grandfather would be pleased to find a pint of his wine gone.

As he gulped down the drink, he unfortunately didn't instantly forget his anxieties about Freed leaving his life, but it at least gave him the confidence to be optimistic. Because Freed wasn't just going to pack up and leave his life like that; he was the kind of man who made friends cautiously but stuck with them through thick and thin. Even in the note he had left Laxus, he mentioned wanting to continue their friendship.

Pathetically, he found his hand grazing his pocket as the urge to reread it grew.

But the urge was more powerful than any good sense that he had left, so he reached into his pocket as he leant on the kitchen counter. He unfolded the now crumpled paper, placing his beer to the side of him, and began to read through the words that he had already committed to memory.

He tried not to let the feeling of melancholy consume him as his eyes roamed the page.

* * *

"You know, if you're gonna be like this all night, you could at least tell me why."

At Cana's words, Laxus let out a small grunt. She and Mirajane had arrived at Makarov's party a few hours prior, which had been enough time for Laxus' mood to get worse and worse. The more he stood around Makarov's house, surrounded by old men and women who had known him since he was born, the more he was reminded of his life before he had met Freed and his life had gained more purpose.

Because this party was what his life had been. Just standing around with nothing to do, wishing the hours away and the day to end, only to have another day of the same boredom. Every day had been like that, and Laxus had a horrid feeling that it would be like that again.

At least with the party, he could step outside and get away for a while.

"You should at least try to cheer up before he gets here," Mirajane sighed.

"Before who gets here?" Laxus muttered, taking a drag from his cigarette.

"Your boyfriend, dipshit," Cana taunted, and Laxus' eyes flickered to her in alarm. Her expression faltered. "You do know he's coming, right?"

Laxus shook his head, a little dumbly.

Why didn't he know that; he should have known that? He was, at least to Laxus' knowledge, the only real point of contact that Freed had in Magnolia. How would Freed have even found out about the party, since Laxus had never mentioned it was happening? And even if someone had mentioned it to him and invited him, surely he would have at least told Laxus to expect him there. Their texting had been limited, but it had still been there.

A flush of both excitement and dread filled the blonde. It was very possible that every concern and worry about the future of their relationship would be either confirmed of denied very quickly, and he hadn't been given the time to prepare.

"Lisanna's getting him from the train station right now, she left a while ago," Mirajane explained.

"Why her?" Laxus asked, though the real question of 'why not me?' was obvious.

"When Freed was staying at the hotel, they saw a lot of each other. She insisted on waiting his table when he had breakfast in the restaurant," Mirajane shrugged a little. "I think that, other than you, she's probably the person he's closest to in Magnolia. Apparently he wanted to talk to her, but I wouldn't worry. It's not like she's Freed's type."

"Maybe he wants to make you jealous," Cana grinned. "Maybe he thinks it'll make the lovin' bett-"

"Can you just stop with that shit for one fucking night," Laxus raised his voice, aggression clear as he glared.

Nobody spoke for a moment.

"I'm gonna get a drink," Cana muttered, leaving the front garden, and going back into the house.

Laxus sighed. "I didn't mean to be-"

"I know you didn't," Mirajane smiled placatingly. "She's just a prideful woman, and she can take things too far without realising it. I should go and check on her," She pushed off from the wall she was leaning on and smiled at Laxus. "And, if the reason you're feeling down is because of Freed, then try and make up."

"It ain't him," Laxus lied.

"Well then you should make the most of him being here then," She suggested, though Laxus doubted she had believed him. "Because he makes you happy, and that's important. Don't throw it away."

She walked into the house, and Laxus raised the cigarette to his lips again, looking up the road in the hopes of catching sight of headlights coming towards the house.

* * *

A car eventually did show up, and Laxus' heartbeat increased sporadically when he saw that it was Lisanna's. He quickly dropped the cigarette to the ground and stomped it out, not knowing what Freed's opinion on smoking was; whenever he had smoked over the past few months, he had done it in private and never where Freed would find him, though he'd found the urge a lot less overpowering and had indulged a lot less since meeting Freed.

He supposed it was the by-product of having things to do with hit time.

The car pulled up on the road outside of Makarov's house, and out from it came both Lisanna and Freed, dressed in his obnoxiously tempting suit; made more tempting now that Laxus knew what lay under it. That thought went as fast as it came, however, as when their eyes met Laxus found his mind blank.

Lisanna said something to Freed, patted the man on the shoulder and walked into the house, smiling at Laxus as she passed him. This left the two men alone in the cold night air, looking at each other in a moment of almost stupefied silence.

"Laxus," Freed eventually said, and the sound of his voice was like music to Laxus.

"Hey," Laxus said, and his voice only barely wavered. "How are you?"

"I'm good," Freed nodded a little. He visibly swallowed, and took a step towards Laxus. "Could we talk, please?"

"Yeah, sure," Laxus also moved, meeting Freed in the middle. He motioned to the small brick wall that separated the front garden from the pathway. "You wanna sit?"

"Thank you," Freed nodded again.

This wasn't going to be a good conversation, Laxus could tell. The very fact that Freed was willing to sit in the cold winter air near the middle of the night said quite a lot. But, Laxus could see Freed gently grazing the palm of his hand while he moved, a nervous tick that Laxus had picked up on a while ago for when Freed was feeling overwhelmed and nervous. This couldn't be a good conversation, and Laxus forced himself to breath calmly before sitting beside him.

"I should apologise," Freed began, his voice low. Regretful. "For kissing you, and certainly for suggesting that we have a night together. You made it clear that it wasn't for the best, and I should have listened."

"I wanted it as much as you did," Laxus admitted. "I enjoyed it, so you don't need to feel guilty. It's just, that's all it could be."

"I know," Freed sighed, looking down at his lap rather than at Laxus. Laxus wished he was looking at him. "But that doesn't change the fact that, the reason I did it was because I was being selfish. I was too focused on what I wanted to think about what was best for us both, and I am very sorry for that. Because if I hadn't kissed you, if I hadn't wanted more from you than I should have, then we'd probably not be out here, having a conversation like this. We'd be inside, enjoying ourselves. But we can't do that, can we?"

"I guess not," Laxus sighed, admitting to a truth that he hated. Because as much as he wanted things to be normal, they weren't.

"I really am sorry," Freed whispered. "Everything you said was right, though. Why we couldn't be together. But I need you to know-"

"Freed," Laxus quivered. "Don't."

"I need you to know that I want to change. That I'm trying to-"

"Please don't do this," Laxus' plea was barely audible.

"-become a better-"

"Freed," Laxus almost begged, voice cracking and getting Freed's attention fully. "You can't do this, you just can't. Because the more you speak, the more I'm gonna believe you. You're like a… a fucking drug to me. I don't get why exactly but I knew you were gonna be big in my life the second I saw you but… I can't get addicted to you. Because it's only gonna end badly."

"Why do you think that?" Freed asked, voice bordering on breaking.

"Because it would," Laxus swallowed. "Because your moms dead and you're refusing to deal with it, and I know what happens when you do that. Because you've got a job and a life that I don't know anything about, and I couldn't work with. Because you're not the kind of guy I could have something casual with. For whatever reason Freed you're the first guy I know to ever make me want more than just a quick fuck or a few weeks together. What I want from you, you can't give me right now. And if we get together, and if you keep saying that there's a chance we can work out, then one day it'll all go to hell."

"Laxus," Freed started again. Laxus wouldn't let him.

"You said one night, that was it," He tried to make his voice strong. "And that's what we did. And I can't risk tainting it. You're more important to me than you know, and I can't ruin it. And I think if we do anything more, then I can't see a way that we end up happy."

"I see," Freed whispered.

Neither spoke for a while after that, instead sitting side by side as the cold winter air flowed over them. Laxus found himself blinking back tears, unable to look anywhere but at his feet as seeing Freed might be too painful. He suspected that Freed might have been doing the same.

"Laxus," Freed said eventually. "Do you remember when you invited me to live in Magnolia? You told me that, in certain circumstances, you can't just carry on doing what you're doing because its easy, and that you sometimes need to remove yourself from a situation to find out who you are now," Laxus nodded. "I think I need to find out who I am without you. Or at least without the possibility of something happening between us."

And didn't that feel like shit.

"So you need to take a step back from me," Laxus whispered, blinking harder now.

"I think so," Freed sighed. "Not permanently, I hope. But you're right, the more time we spend together, the more I'll want to be with you. And if you're as certain as I believe you are, then I think we shouldn't see each other for a while. That we shouldn't… torture ourselves with something that we can't have."

"Yeah," Laxus voice broke. "Makes sense."

"I'm sorry Laxus."

"Don't be," Laxus forced himself to shrug. "I'm the one saying we can't be anything. You're just respecting that."

"Are you okay?"

"Fuck knows," Laxus laughed a little. "You?"

"No," Freed admitted. "I think I should leave, though. There's no good that can come from dragging it out."

"Guess not," Laxus took in a quivering breath. "You wanna call a taxi or something?"

"I'll stay at the house tonight, I can walk there," Freed sighed. "I really am sorry, Laxus."

"It's not your fault," Laxus whispered. "It just is what it is."

"I suppose so," Freed's voice wavered. "Goodbye, Laxus."

"Goodbye, Freed."

With an audible, quivering sigh, Freed stood up. The sound of shoes on tarmac became quieter and quieter as Freed walked away from Laxus, and the blonde only looked up when he knew that Freed was out of sight. He let out a strangled breath, looking at nothing as a wash of misery overtook him. He found his hands moving towards the note in his pocket without realising it, and a moment later he was looking down at it with tears prickling at the corners of his eyes.

' _Dear Laxus,_

_I would first like to explain why I'm not here for when you wake. This was in no way my intention, but my train to Era was looming and, despite my best efforts, you are nearly impossible to wake. You have a rather endearing habit of gently snoring, so I can forgive you for that. I do wish I could have spoken to you before I left though._

_Our time together last night was incredible, I expect I won't ever forget it, and it is entirely because I shared it with you. You seem to enlighten my existence in a way I can hardly put into words, even though I intend to try. You seem to brighten me, challenge me, and make me a better man. It's as if I have been struck by lightning just by being in your proximity, and your influence on my life has been only positive. When we kissed, it felt as though life was reinvigorated for me. Please know that you are one of the best people I have met, and your kindness is something I'll never be able to thank you enough for._

_But I understand why last night is all that we can have as anything other than friends. I know why we can't be more, and as much as I would love to indulge my urges to keep you in my arms for as long as you'd have me, I understand why we can't._

_I only wish we can still remain part of one another's lives still. I hope to see you soon, my love._

_Freed.'_

As the fireworks exploded behind him, bringing in the new year, Laxus let himself cry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Hollidays.


	11. The End

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Previously: Laxus had to confront what his life used to be like in the form of a party, an unexpected guests shows up and talks with him, and Laxus is left alone as the year turns to the next.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello. I'm sure you know by now that [Fuckyeahfraxus](https://fuckyeahfraxus.tumblr.com/) is in charge of Fraxus Day and you should give them some love.
> 
> Thank you so much for any comments and kudos you leave. They mean so much. I hope you enjoy and thanks for reading.  
> 

**Chapter Eleven – The End**

Freed had flaws.

It was something that he had tried to keep to himself; he was an image conscious man and, at some point in his life, he had attributed having flaws as some kind of weakness. This wasn't helped because of his career, something where image really was everything. One fumble on your words, one change in your body language, one misplaced hair and your opponent would jump on it in an attempt to delegitimise both you and your arguments. And slowly, subconsciously, Freed had convinced himself that he had no flaws.

But that was a fiction, and one that he was being forced to confront. He was emotionally repressed, and closed himself off from vulnerability or the chance of embarrassment. He had little life outside of his work, and had convinced himself he was happy like that when he wasn't. He had a superiority complex that often-alienated people and put a strain on relationships with people not willing to push back at him.

They were not comfortable realisations to have, and they had hit him hard.

However, Freed was not only made of flaws. He had many positive traits, one of which was his practicality. So when all of his flaws were pointed out to him, he did not mope for long, nor did he fall into a spiral of regret and self-loathing. Instead, he made a decision to make a change in himself, to grow out of his flaws.

It was why he was dressed like this: a black sleeveless shirt, and black jeans, with his hair tied up into a messy ponytail. Though to an outsider it wasn't a large change, it was significant for Freed. His job required a certain look, and did such a large amount of overtime that his suits were practically the only things he wore. Again, in a gradual change that Freed hadn't been aware of, his wardrobe turned into nothing but suits. It had become something like societal armour for him, a way to avoid judgment because he knew that he looked good and felt confident like that.

Laxus had mentioned that. Laxus had been the catalyst for all of this self-reflection.

He looked himself up and down in the mirror, frowning a little. The only reason he had these clothes were because, during Christmas, Bickslow had attempted to get Freed to go clubbing with him and attempted to guilt him into doing it by buying him the clothes as a gift. It was an interesting look for Freed, he wasn't sure about it.

"Well hot damn," A loud voice said from behind him, followed by a wolf whistle. Freed turned to see Bickslow standing at the door of his bedroom. "Where have you been hiding those arms? You're looking fine~"

Freed didn't say anything, glancing at his bare arms.

"Don't embarrass him," Evergreen's hushed as she walked past the doorframe, dragging Bickslow with her. Freed walked out of his bedroom, entering the open plan living room of his apartment. "You do look great though. Casual works on you."

"And I bet blondie is gonna love it," Bickslow grinned.

Again, Freed said nothing. He kept glancing at himself in any reflective surface that he could find, each time making him feel slightly more comfortable in the outfit. He shook his head slightly at the stupidity of his actions, walking to the kitchen and leaning on the counter as he checked the time on his phone. He would have to leave soon.

"What d'you think you're going to say to him?" Ever asked, sitting on the counter beside him.

"I'm not entirely sure yet," Freed admitted, leaning back and sighing. "I spent most of last night thinking about it, actually. At one point I decided to draft out what I wanted to say, which didn't help me at all. I'm hoping that seeing him will help."

"Just speak from the heart man," Bickslow smiled.

"Well, emotional vulnerability is a strength of mine," Freed let out a small chuckle as he spoke. "But that will probably be the best, won't it."

"And don't forget to grovel your ass off," Evergreen grinned.

Freed laughed slightly, but nodded. His friends had made it quite clear over the last two weeks that, the way he had left it with Laxus was stupid and unnecessary. Freed had taken issue with their claims at first, because if Laxus wanted to keep their relationship platonic then Freed felt he couldn't be near him for a while. But when Bickslow and Evergreen had said, in no uncertain terms, that Freed was just 'being pointlessly defensive like you always do when you try to be vulnerable,' it was hard to deny they had a point.

It had somewhat recontextualized their conversation at the party. For Freed, it had been a way to save face; to avoid the chance for embarrassment. But for Laxus, it probably felt like a rejection of their friendship. An end to any relationship, platonic or otherwise, between them.

Freed had felt sick when he realised that.

The memory of the realisation made his mood plummet.

"Hey, don't look like that," Bickslow smiled, patting Freed's shoulder and nudging him with his thigh. "You're new to… emotions. And being honest with your mistakes," Freed hardened his expressions by reflex at that. "But it ain't that bad, what happened. You kinda did a little bit of a fuck up, which happens. You're going to talk to him, make up for what happened, and then maybe if you're lucky you'll get some dick. Again."

Against his better judgment, a slither of a smile fell onto Freed's face.

"You're incorrigible," Freed scolded, though laughed.

"Was he good?" Evergreen asked, and Freed shook his head as he stood up. "He looks like he'd be good."

"You are both awful people," Freed said with a grin. "I'm trying to get into a headspace where I can have an emotional and heartfelt conversation with a level of vulnerability I am not comfortable with, for a man I care for very greatly. And the two of you talking about my night with the aforementioned man is not helping."

"We couldn't be more sorry," Bickslow grinned in his lie.

"Yes, you sound positively repentant," Freed muttered, pushing off from the counter and standing straight. "I should go, before it gets too late. You don't mind dealing with the trucks, do you? I'd rather not linger any longer than I have to."

"Of course," Evergreen smiled. "It's all going into storage for now, isn't it?"

Freed nodded.

"You coming back tonight?" Bickslow asked, before grinning. "Roomie."

"I suppose that'll be dependent on what happens, won't it?"

Freed walked through his front door, holding it open for his friends to walk through. Once they had, he looked into the large apartment, devoid of both furniture and evidence of life. He scanned the place he had lived for all his adult life, almost shocked by the lack of emotions he felt when he considered it would no longer be his home. Perhaps it was because it had never felt like a home, but rather a selection of rooms that he existed in when not working. Or perhaps it was because he felt that there was something better for him coming soon if luck was on his side.

But, as he flicked off the light and locked the door, he didn't care. He had other priorities today.

* * *

He took a breath before he walked in. He needed the courage.

Fairy Tail, for his time in Magnolia, had been something of a safe haven for him. Before he'd moved into the house, Fairy Tail had been where he had stayed and it had turned into a home away from home, of sorts. But now, having not been there for a while, it felt something like a fortress that he would have to conquer. A monolithic blockade that signified what he needed to do to take the next step in his life.

Because Freed knew that he had hurt Laxus; he couldn't delude himself otherwise. After Bickslow and Evergreen had explained just how stupid he had been – again, their words – he had demanded Evergreen ask Elfman about Laxus' state. Apparently he was shut off, without enthusiasm and quick to anger.

Freed was to blame for this, and the people who had dealt with the fallout were in the hotel.

After further attempts to calm his nerves, Freed walked through the front garden of the hotel and into the hotel. The bell chimed and it sent a rush of nerves into the pit of Freed's stomach. As the door closed, he was met with the sight of Cana and Mirajane. Perhaps the two people Freed hoped to see least.

There was a moment of silence, where recognition turned to icy expressions.

"Oh look who it is," Cana said, pushing up from the reception and taking a step forward. "Mr fuck 'em and leave 'em, huh. You've a lot of balls showing up here."

A slurry of comments flashed through Freed's mind, because as willing as he may be to grovel for Laxus' forgiveness, that was not something he was going to do for people who he barely knew. However, he knew that Laxus was important to these people, and it was clear that they had protective instincts over him, so he bit his tongue. Though a hint of bitterness did fill him at the way he was addressed.

"I wish to see Laxus," He said in reply, fighting the instinct to scratch at his hand. "Where is he?"

"Why?" Mirajane asked, and her tone lacked the gentleness it normally did. "Because from what I've seen, I don't think he'd want to see you."

"Has he told you that?" Freed's voice had a hint of an edge to it now. "Because if not, then perhaps it would be best if you don't speak for him and allow him to make up his own mind; I'm sure you agree."

Cana went to speak, but before she said anything the door to the office swung open and two people walked out: Makarov and Lisanna. Freed almost sighed in frustration at the sight of the older man, because, if Freed had understood the man as well as he thought, Makarov's protective instinct over Laxus was so much higher than that of his friends. And the scowl on his face suggested that Freed's assessment had been correct.

"You," He snapped, voice carrying a ferocity that Freed hadn't heard out of court. "What are you doing on my property?"

"I wish to see your grandson," Freed explained, continuing before he could stop himself. "If you can tell me where he is, I'll happily leave your property. Though given that it is a retail business I feel the need to say I have a right to be here."

"My Grandson is no business of yours," Makarov growled in his throat, stepping towards Freed. "Over the last few weeks he had become a shell of his former self. And you are entirely to blame for that."

Freed resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

"And how exactly have you come to that conclusion?" Freed asked, making as good an effort to remain polite as he could. "Because, despite it not being something you may want to admit, I know your grandson very well. And knowing him, I can be sure in the fact that he has not spoken of our conversation to any of you. So perhaps you should hold your assumptions for now and allow him to make up his own mind."

"I found him crying alone. On New Year's Eve he was sat alone and in tears. Because you left him like that," Makarov grunted, taking another step forward. "You're right, he didn't tell me what happened, but I know a damn broken heart when I see it. Especially when it comes to my own grandson. And you have the audacity to come here, as if you can walk back into his life without repercussion. I should spit at you."

"Where is he?" Freed repeated, now scratching at his palm again as frustration grew.

"I can assure you that if I have anything to say about it, you will not see my grandson again and you certainly will not hurt him," Makarov snarled. "Leave, you cruel hearted bastard."

Freed felt his jaw clench at that, and his eyes flickered over the three other people in the reception. Cana was glaring at him; with an expression one might save for a murderer. Mirajane was nodding in agreement to Makarov's demand, her lips pressed into a firm line. Lisanna looked more hesitant, glancing at Makarov with a look of almost concern before her eyes flickered towards Freed. For a moment they shared eye contact, and a flash of pity crossed her features that made Freed feel a little calmer.

"Why're you still here?" Cana snapped. "Fuck off, fucking manipulative whore."

And that was the moment that Freed's patience snapped.

Because his road to self-betterment had only just started, and when insulted he favoured fight over flight.

"I have a lot of things to say to you all, but as I don't wish to waste my time on insignificant people I intend to keep this brief," Freed snapped, voice rivalling Makarov's in hostility. "You may believe that you have Laxus' best interests at heart by this little performance, but if you used so much as an ounce of thought, then you would probably conclude that he would both hate this and resent you for doing it. He is a prideful man, as well as a free-thinking adult, and having people speak for him without his permission is something I expect doubt he would abhor."

"You do not know my grandson better-" Makarov began.

"Do not interrupt me!" Freed yelled with a power that years of professional arguing had gifted him. "And do not play some saintly role, because I am more than aware of how focused you have all been on whatever relationship Laxus and myself may have had. You have strongarmed yourselves into our relationship by making comments, jokes and invasive suggestions. This protective defence you're doing is a continuation of that. A way to paint yourselves as the heroes of the story, the valiant defenders who protected the weak of the pack. But Laxus is not weak, and you really should stop treating him as such."

"Don't act like you know us," Cana scoffed. "We've barely spoken."

"And yet you act as though you know me perfectly," Freed retorted. "But you don't. You don't know me, nor the nature of what Laxus and I have had. You have made assumptions, all of which seem to be incorrect."

Freed took a sigh to calm himself. He needed to get this back onto the topic.

"When I left your grandson last, he was not crying. Had I known he would, I promise that I would not have left him," He said, voice calmer but still tainted with anger. "I will not divulge what we spoke of, as that is our business, but if you believe I simply bedded Laxus and left him then let me make it clear that I did not. I care for him greatly, and the fact that I have hurt him burns at me. But I am here in an attempt to make amends for this, something I can only do if I see him. Should he tell me to leave and never contact him, as you so clearly want, then I will respect that. But I will not take orders from strangers.

"Now, given you're so clearly invested in what happens between us, I will be clear. I intend to find him, speak to him and hopefully rekindle whatever relationship I can," Freed straightened his back, a glare on his face. "And if I may leave you with some advice for the future, when it comes to our relationship, mind your own fucking business."

He spun on his heels, and left the reception of Fairy Tail.

His pace was quick, and the anger spurred him on, adrenaline a good counter for the cold air hitting his bare arms. He stormed down the steep hill of magnolia, ears not picking up the sound of running shoes on the cobbles behind him. He was too busy focused calming his breathing.

"Freed," Lisanna's voice came from behind, and Freed glanced over his shoulder to see she was alone. "Slow down."

"Why?" He grunted.

"Because I know where he is, asshole," She snapped back, and Freed slightly slowed his pace. After catching up with him, Lisanna spoke again. "Look, don't pay too much attention to them. Getting involved in other people's business is what happens in villages. And they're a protective lot, but they don't mean any insult."

"Yes they do."

"Okay, maybe they do a bit," Lisanna admitted, sighing. "But that's not why I came out here. I wanted to say that I think it'd be good if you talked to Laxus. I know they all disagree, but I think I know you pretty well, and I don't think you'd hurt Laxus intentionally. So even if you don't manage to… fix everything, it might give you a chance to explain what happened and help cheer him up."

"That's what I'm hoping to do," Freed spoke softly.

"I know. You're nice, you just have to look hard at you to see it," Lisanna smiled, patting Freed's arm. "He's at a job right now, doing some house work. I'm sure Bob won't mind you stopping by."

After Lisanna wrote down the address of the house Laxus was working at, he thanked her and was pulled into a shockingly strong hug. He returned it, somewhat awkwardly, before letting her go and smiling at her. It was nice to know that he had an ally of sorts with her, given that he had essentially burned all bridged with all of the other people important to Laxus.

"I hope you do make it up to each other," Lisanna admitted softly. "You brought out the best of him."

"He brought out the best of me," Freed whispered, and he felt his anger dissipate slightly. The admission of Laxus' influence was invigorating and comforting at the same time.

"Then make it up with him," Lisanna said. "And be good to him."

"I will," Freed promised. "I really will."

* * *

When he saw Laxus, it made his stomach churn and flip simultaneously.

He was in a small front garden, standing with his back to Freed while trimming the wayward leaves of an overgrown tree. The wires plugged into his ears told Freed that he was listening to music, and the sight of his right leg bobbing slightly in tune to a rhythm sent a rush of relief through Freed. Getting lost in music was something that often happened when he worked on the house, and Freed was glad to see that hadn't changed.

Perhaps stupidly, Freed had convinced himself that Laxus would be a shell of his former self. It was good that he wasn't.

Approaching slowly, and steadying his breath again, Freed coughed to get his attention. It didn't work initially, so Freed waited a moment for Laxus to climb down from the small step ladder he was stood on, before tapping the blonde on the shoulder. Laxus turned, then took a startled half step back when he saw who it was. Freed smiled weakly at him as Laxus took out his headphones.

"Freed," He slightly stammered out, pupils dilated.

"Hello Laxus," Freed spoke quietly. "It's nice to see you."

"Hi," Laxus seemed almost breathless as he spoke.

They took a few moments to look one another up and down. Laxus looked the same as he had since they last saw, in most ways. He still stood tall, his clothes still clung to his large form, and his face was as handsome as it always had. But there were slight bags under his eyes, and his shoulders were drooped just a little. Freed felt a rush of guilt flow through him; he couldn't remember Laxus looking like this in their time spent together, and the change was his fault.

But he couldn't linger on that guilt for too long, because Laxus finished sizing him up at the same time Freed had with him. Their eyes met, and Freed found himself breathless as he was trapped in the blue pupils that had been haunting him.

"What are you doing here?" Laxus asked, voice more hesitant than hostile.

"I wished to speak with you," Freed explained, taking a step forward. Laxus didn't step back, and the proximity gave Freed a slight burst of confidence. "So long as that's not a problem?"

"Erm. No. No that should be, erm… That should be fine," Laxus said, looking over his shoulder to the house. "Just let me see if Bob doesn't mind me taking a bit of time off. He won't, but I need to be sure."

Freed nodded, and watched as Laxus jogged back into the house; Freed scolded himself for glancing over the vast expanse of the man's back as he retreated. Less than a minute later, Laxus returned to the garden, now wearing a leather, fur lined jacket that had become a favourite of Freed's during their time together. He couldn't help but smile at the sight of the ruffled fake-fur bordering Laxus' neck.

"You ain't cold are ya?" Laxus asked, voice awkwardly polite. It bothered Freed, but he'd expected it. "I could ask Bob for something, if you need it. I mean, you have pretty different styles, but cold is cold. Although, you seem to have changed it up a bit."

"Yes," Freed said, not missing the roaming eyes on him again. "But I'm fine, I don't need a coat."

Laxus shrugged, motioning towards the pathway that Freed had just walked down to get there. Without needing to say anything, Freed began walking down the road, Laxus keeping in step with him. Even in the awkwardness between them, Freed couldn't help but notice how easy it was to understand what Laxus was thinking without him saying anything. Freed enjoyed knowing what someone was thinking without them speaking.

"The bathroom in the house is done," Laxus said eventually, breaking the ice. "I sent you an email, don't know if you got it."

"I did," Freed nodded, thinking back to the email. The very formal email. "I didn't reply in case you didn't want to hear from me."

"Is it okay?" Laxus asked.

"I haven't been to the house yet, but I know it'll be excellent," Freed spoke with confidence, because Laxus was excellent with what he did. "You were my priority for coming here, though."

Laxus let out a small hum in response, and they fell into silence again as a chill ran over Freed's bare arms, not that he paid it any mind. It was stupid but, after their time spent apart, even walking next to Laxus in a relatively uncomfortable silence felt great. Laxus seemed to have a calming aura to him that affected Freed in a way he couldn't explain.

But, he wasn't here to indulge himself in his urge to be close to Laxus in any way the blonde allowed him to. He was here to make it up to Laxus, to hopefully make him feel a little better at worst, and perhaps propose a new relationship at best.

"I have to apologise," Freed began. "For quite a lot of things, really."

"No you don't," Laxus said, either out of instinct or politeness.

"Don't be kind about this, Laxus. It's not the moment for that," Freed spoke with a firmness in his voice. "The fact is, I've done a lot of selfish things to you, and whether intentionally or not I have hurt you. I need to make up for that, and the first step is to apologise."

When Laxus didn't say anything, Freed saw that as encouragement for him to continue.

"When I first kissed you, and the night we spent together, I did it out of selfishness," Freed began. "I know you disagreed when I said that before, but it was. I wanted you, and I prioritised that over both our friendship and any repercussions that might have come with it. It was a selfish moment born out of a lack of self-control."

"You know I wanted it as much as you did," Laxus parroted his response from their previous discussion on the matter.

"It wouldn't have happened had I not pushed it," Freed said firmly. "I also need to apologise for how we left things last time. Why I said we should take a break from each other… it was an excuse. The truth was that I'm terrified of embarrassment. I've spent most of my life avoiding situations where it might happen. And I was embarrassed after what happened, and my kneejerk reaction to that is to close off and avoid it. Which, now I say it out loud, is utterly pathetic."

"Yeah," Laxus nodded. "It was fucking pathetic."

Freed was shocked that he felt no offence at that.

"You ain't apologised for it yet," Laxus continued.

"No," Freed agreed. "I am so sorry for that Laxus. Without being hyperbolic, that was the biggest mistake I have ever made, and I will regret it for the rest of my life," He sighed a little, breath fogging. "But I know that an apology isn't enough. So I want to make it clear that I'm trying to improve myself; to confront my flaws."

"Really?" Laxus said, looking ahead.

"I've contacted a therapist, with the intention of having weekly sessions with her," Freed admitted, and Laxus' gaze fell on him. "I'm hoping that she can help me with a lot of things. Both with my… issues with how I'm perceived, and other, smaller problems. Specifically with how I'm dealing with my mother's death."

"Right," Laxus said with a slight nod. "Sounds like something that'd be good for you."

Again, they didn't speak for a short while, and Freed found that they had walked into one of Magnolia's parks; he'd been too busy focused on the apology to notice where they had gone. He'd never been to the park before, he'd never had the time nor the inclination, but it was a beautiful place. A long expanse of grass, with flowerbeds decorating the edges. And near the entrance was a large pond, with Lilypad's floating atop the surface and benches surrounding it.

"I've quit my job," Freed said as they walked along the path. Laxus stopped where he stood.

"What the fuck?"

"I've left my job," Freed repeated. "It was overdue."

"You loved your job," Laxus frowned, voice confused. "You said it was the biggest part of your life. You just fuckin' quit it?"

"It's a fairly clear summary of my life, isn't it? That the biggest part of my life was something that I grew to hate," He chuckled out loud. "I'm selling my apartment as well. Something else that I should have done a while ago."

"The fuck are you- Why are you-" Laxus stammered slightly. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because you're the catalyst for this. I've been playing at life for a while, doing what I thought I was meant to for years now. I got the job I was told to get. I got the apartment I want meant to strive for. But, I wasn't happy, and I didn't realise it until I came here. Until I met you. You've made me a better man, and I want you to know how important you are to me," Freed admitted, before frowning. "And this isn't a form of guilt tripping. I'm not trying to make you feel obligated to forgive me for what I did. These are all things that I should have done years ago, for myself. I just want you to know how better I am for having met you."

"You know where you're gonna live?" Laxus asked. Perhaps it was wishful thinking, but Freed felt he heard a slight glimmer of hope in Laxus' tone.

"Bickslow's apartment, for now," Freed explained. "In terms of future plans, there's a lot of things to think about."

"Is one of those things the topic you've been avoiding?" Laxus asked. "What the next steps are for the two of us."

"That is a large thing to consider," Freed agreed.

"Guess so," Laxus nodded. He tilted his head to the nearest bench that bordered the pond. "Sit."

Freed did as he was told, and sat on the bench. When Laxus sat beside him, a chill went through his spine as he felt Laxus' thigh rest against his and remain there. He tried not to let a glimmer of hope bloom through him, but a small smile did flicker into his features before he schooled it off. Hopefully Laxus didn't notice.

"You can tell yer a lawyer," Laxus continued. "I come up with a list of reasons why we shouldn't be together, and you address them all."

"Sorry," Freed said with a small smile. "Winning arguments its hardwired into me."

"Yeah, realised that," Laxus chuckled a little, before turning serious again and looking at Freed. "Freed, all this stuff your doing is great, and I'm sure it'll help you become a better and happier person. But things like therapy, they take time. It's not like you'll go into a session and be the best version of yourself by the end of it. And if you're looking for a new job and you've just moved out… I don't think it's the best time for us to start anything."

His heart leapt slightly at the idea that Laxus was even considering starting something with him. But he didn't let his excitement show, instead nodding slightly.

"If you're not ready, or if you just don't want to-"

"I want to Freed, I really want to," Laxus said firmly, and Freed couldn't fight the smile. "I've wanted to be with you since I first met you. But if we start – when we start – then we only got one chance at it. Because I feel really strongly about you, and I'm worried if we fuck it up it'll turn to hatred. And I can't hate you. I don't wanna hate you."

"I don't want to hate you either."

Again, silence fell between them. And Freed understood what Laxus was saying, because he too had such strong feelings for Laxus. At that moment those feelings were fondness, adoration, friendship and potentially love. But if they messed up, if their relationship was bad and it grew resentment between them both, then all the passion he felt for the man could be twisted into anger and disgust. That was a risk he wasn't willing to take.

"What if we wait a month," Laxus eventually said.

"What?" Freed asked.

"A month. In exactly a month's time, we see how we're both doing. If we're in a better place than we are now, and if we both think it's time then we go on a date and see what happens," Laxus had a sense of purpose in his voice. An authority. "That okay?"

"Yes," Freed said without hesitation. "But, what if we're not ready by next month?"

"Then we wait another month. Or however long it takes," Laxus claimed, and it was perhaps the most romantic thing Freed had heard. "You think you can do that?"

"Without a doubt," Freed promised. "The truth of the matter is, Laxus, that I would do anything to keep you in my life."

And then a beautiful thing happened. Freed was given the angelic sight of Laxus' lips contorting into a mischievous, wide grin. His eyes sparkled with a childish, competitive glee. Laxus had clearly seen Freed's promise as some sort of challenge and, as he had done with every perceived challenge between the two of them, had decided he would take Freed up on the challenge. It was incredible to see, and Freed felt as though, in that look, he had been forgiven.

"Anything huh?" He said with a grin in his tone. "Because, y'know, when we do go on a date I get to pick what we do. And I'm pretty sure I wanna get some petty revenge on ya. That okay?"

"Depends on what the date is, I suppose," Freed mused, smirking, "But I doubt you'll think of something I'd refuse."

"Even if I make you dress up as a medieval jester, have you shout crappy limericks in the high street all day while I get people to throw rotten eggs and tomatoes at ya."

"I would do that," Freed nodded. "I'd be confused about why you'd want me to do that, because that is both a very odd and very specific threat. But yes, if that is what you want then I would do it."

"Thought you didn't like getting embarrassed," Laxus teased.

"For you, I don't mind," Freed smiled. "I'm just sorry that it took me this long to realise it."

"Enough apologising, it doesn't suit you," Laxus laughed.

"Fair," Freed grinned, before his mind went back slightly. "Where on earth did the idea of dressing me up as a jester, having me shout limericks and throwing eggs at me come from?"

"Ah, Mirajane was acting like I was some heartbroken teenager and kept trying to cheer me up," Laxus laughed. "In the end it was either going to the spa with her and her sister, or watching a crappy TV Movie while eating ice cream. After the villain of the movie lost his money, he had to advertise a crappy medieval restaurant and that's what ended up happening to him. Thought it suited you."

"You think I deserve the same fate as a TV movie villain?" Freed chuckled. "Is that what you see me as, a villain?"

"Fuck yeah I do," Laxus grinned. "But I think villains are hot, so don't feel bad."

"I consider it a compliment," Freed laughed, before groaning. Laxus frowned at him. "On the topic of me being a villain, it is entirely possible that I offended basically everyone important to you before I found you."

"How the fuck did you do that?" Laxus cackled.

"I may have ranted at them for a while, and told them to mind their own fucking business."

"For fucks sake," Laxus laughed. "You really don't make things easy for yourself, do ya?"

Freed just laughed, and as he did he felt his head rest against Laxus' by accident. He opened his eyes to see that their foreheads were resting against each other. Their laughter died, and Freed felt his pace increase again. His heart hammered heavily in his chest, and he could feel a buzzing anticipation flow through him.

It was a similar sensation to when he had kissed Laxus in the car. Anticipation grew and grew, as if whatever happened next was inevitable. A rush of adrenaline pushed him forward slightly, and he was so incredibly aware of how Laxus' roaming eyes were flicking between his eyes and his lips.

They were going to kiss.

And, somehow, he knew it would be better this time. Because this wasn't a mistake, this wasn't Freed giving into his urges against his better judgment. This was something that he and Laxus wanted, and perhaps they were owed at this point.

But Laxus' reasoning for not starting a relationship rushed back to his mind, and stopped him from moving forward.

"Laxus," He whispered. "I though you wanted to wait until we started dating."

"I do," Laxus whispered back. "But I also wanna kiss you so fucking bad right now. And you got a poorly timed kiss, it's my turn."

In that moment, there was no doubt in Freed's mind that he and Laxus were meant to be together.

And then, Laxus took Freed into a beautiful, passionate, incredible kiss. It was everything.


	12. The Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Previously: Freed returned to Magnolia with a mission in mind, he alienated important people due to their interference, and a kiss was shared by the edge of a duck pond.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello. I'm sure you know by now that [Fuckyeahfraxus](https://fuckyeahfraxus.tumblr.com/) is in charge of Fraxus Day and you should give them some love.
> 
> Thank you so much for any comments and kudos you leave. They mean so much. I hope you enjoy and thanks for reading.  
> 

**Chapter Twelve – The Epilogue**

_**Wednesday 14**_ _ **th** _ _**April 2021** _

Waking up with Laxus' arms wrapped around him was something that Freed was unwilling to give up. Because it came with a feeling of safeness, a comfort that Freed could hardly put into words. It was as if Laxus was enveloping all of his senses; the touch of skin against skin, the scent of Laxus' cologne against his neck. It was an incredibly addictive feeling, but Freed was all too willing to indulge in this particular weakness.

The sound of the other man groaning awake was drowned out by the blaring of their shared alarm clock. Freed watched with partial amusement as Laxus' sleeping face crumpled up into a frown and his eyes blinked open, grogginess and annoyance in his expression.

"Y'know," Laxus croaked. "I don't wanna sound like a kid or anything, but waking up every morning this early is kinda shit."

"I used to picture you as a morning person," Freed teased, through a yawn. He shifted slightly to look up at his tried boyfriend and smiled. "How naïve I must have been."

Laxus laughed gently, wrapping his arms around Freed tighter and burying his face in his long hair. Freed sighed in content, unintentionally nuzzling his nose into the crook of Laxus' neck. He blinked a few times, knowing from experience that it would be very easy for him to fall asleep again. And, as much as he really wanted to do that, he couldn't.

A lot had changed over the last three months, for Laxus as well as Freed. The blonde had decided that, although he enjoyed being the town's unofficial handyman, he wanted something more structured. Using his work on Albion House as a sort of resume, as well as a strong reference, Laxus had managed to get a job working in construction management. It was a large and important step for Laxus, and despite the early mornings, he was loving his new work.

Freed's changes had bene more emotional, and insular. His therapy had been working very well, as brutal as it could be at times. He was being told the ways in which he could improve himself, and many of them were working. He felt better about himself, his confidence seemed less forced, and his relationships – platonic and romantic – felt more intimate.

He was still unemployed, though that was his choice. He was frugal and had enough savings to keep him comfortable for half of a year, meaning he had time to search for a job that truly suited his needs and wants.

A job that he would hopefully find in Magnolia, something he'd discussed with Laxus a month after their apology.

Their conversation had been a good one. Freed had partly assumed that it would only focus on their relationship, but it had thankfully been more than that. They'd spoken about Freed's living arrangements – as he could only live with Bickslow for so long – and what he was looking for in terms of work. They'd spoken about Laxus new job and what that meant for them. And they spoke about if it was the right time for them to start dating.

It wasn't, they decided. Laxus job had begun that week, and it was his priority. And as much as Freed's therapy was helping, he was still new to it. But they both wanted more, and Freed proposed the idea of him moving to Magnolia and looking for employ somewhere in and around the town. Laxus had jumped on the chance, and Freed had moved into Albion House within the week.

Having the opportunity to see Laxus as often as he did was great. And despite their initial plan to wait another month to see if they were ready, they found themselves dating within two weeks of Freed living there.

"Eyes open, Dreyar," Freed smirked a little as he saw Laxus' eyes drooping. "You have to leave in an hour."

"Don't care," Laxus grumbled as he hugged Freed tighter. The lawyer put in no effort to fight this movement, nuzzling Laxus' chest. "Don't know why you're so excited about waking up, thought you were dreading today."

"That doesn't change the fact I have to do it," Freed whispered with a laugh, pinching Laxus' forearm and smirking when his eyes shot open in a tired glare. "Though it's true what they say, bad things do come in threes."

Coincidentally, three things that Freed wasn't at all looking forward to had fallen on the same day. After traveling to Era each week for his therapy, Freed had decided to meet Magnolia's only therapist Porlyusica; with Laxus assuring him he didn't mind Freed seeing the same person he had. Along with his first meeting with her, he also had to attend a job interview for Magnolia's most reputable law firm; it was the second job interview he'd ever been to, and he was dreading it. The third thing he had to do was have an evening with Laxus and Makarov, which was not nearly as bad as the other two, but Freed had discovered a fondness for being dramatic.

"You really think Gramps is that bad?" Laxus asked with a laugh. "I could tell him that, imagine how hurt he'd be."

"I'm sure he'd forgive me," Freed chuckled, though there was a hint of bitterness in his words. "Even if his way of doing that is making joked at my expense."

"If you don't wanna be the punchline of his jokes then you shouldn't have told him to fuck off," Laxus grinned, pressing his lips against Freed's crown in a soft kiss.

"I didn't tell him to fuck off, I told him to mind his own fucking business," Freed laughed as he shifted so his face rested on Laxus' chest. "Which, in retrospect, might not have been the best thing to do to the grandfather of the man I wished to date."

"Maybe not your smartest choice," Laxus grinned. "You know he's forgiven you though, right? Like, before you even moved here we talked, and he said he had to respect you for sticking up for me, even if he was pissed off at the time. That's basically as close to him saying that you were right you're gonna get. He's just pissing you off because he thinks it's fun."

"If you insist," Freed smiled slightly. He believed that Makarov made jokes at his expense as a form of test for Freed, making sure that he didn't prioritise his dignity over Laxus. That was a mistake he'd made once before, and didn't plan on doing again, so he could live with the tests. "What time is it?"

"Three in the morning," Laxus lied smoothly. "Let's sleep again."

To counter Laxus' insistence of them sleeping again, Freed removed himself from the blonde's grasp and left the bed; Laxus groaned at the lack of a warm body against his. With tired, slow movements, he moved to the curtains and opened them, giving him the idyllic view of the countryside. He opened the window and allowed the soft breeze to hit him, still enjoying the quietness of Magnolia even after living there for two months. Warm arms wrapped around him from behind tightly, pulling him against a strong body. A tired yawn hit his ears, and a laugh slipped through him.

"You will have to get used to waking up early at some point," Freed smiled, turning in Laxus' arms to face him. "I would have thought you'd be used to it by now."

"Thought I was, but normally you're sleeping," Laxus shrugged, a soft expression on his tired features. "It's kinda hard to get out of bed when your boyfriend is right there, looking all cute and shit. Not to mention naked," He grinned a little, and Freed chuckled. "In the past, all the good stuff happens in bed when you're naked. And when you're looking like that, anything could happen."

"Anything?" Freed chuckled. "You certainly are an optimist, aren't you?"

"Nah, I just know what you're like," Laxus grinned. "Yer just as bad as me, and you know it."

They moved in sync, pushing their heads forward and pressing their lips together in a soft kiss. It was slow, tired, and slightly sloppy, but Freed relished every moment. Burning adrenaline and passion was great, but there was something magnificent about having moments where, despite their tiredness, they could enjoy each other's company and their touch.

But the moment could only last so long, as Freed's phone blared to life in another alarm, this one he had set for himself so he wouldn't risk sleeping through Laxus'. The blonde groaned and pulled away, glaring at the device while Freed chuckled. He picked his phone up and turned the alarm off, smiling at Laxus.

"We have to start getting ready at some point," He chuckled. "As much as I'd like not to."

"Guess so," Laxus shrugged, sitting down on the bed, and groaning as he cracked his back. He glanced towards Freed a moment later and grinned. "You wanna shower first? It'll take hours to tame the rat's nest, won't it?"

"I was going to propose we shower together, actually," Freed grinned. "But after that comment, I think I can do it alone."

"Well, I mean you don't wanna be hasty," Laxus chuckled a little. "I might be able to help out."

"No, there's no need for that. After all, given how long it takes for me to 'tame my rats nest' I wouldn't want to force you in there for hours. You might get bored," Freed smirked a little, keeping Laxus' gaze. "After all, what is there to do in a shower with your very wet and very naked boyfriend to keep you distracted. No, I wouldn't force such boredom on you. I can lather myself up on my own."

"Asshole," Laxus grinned with a chuckle.

Freed went to walk to the en suite attached to his bedroom, but as he walked past Laxus his hand was grabbed, and he was pulled into the man's lap. On reflex he pressed his lips against Laxus', kissing him softly as Laxus pulled him closer.

They kissed for a short while, still tainted with their sleepiness. Once they pulled apart, they rested their foreheads together. Both men wore tired and somewhat lovestruck expressions, the incredible feeling of a soft and lazy morning kiss being new for them. Freed had wrapped his hand into Laxus' hair as they kissed and was now gently stroking it absentmindedly.

"Make sure that don't get too in your head about today," Laxus spoke softly, sincerity now in his tone. "I know you're nervous about the interview, but you'll be fine. And I know you already convinced yourself it's not gonna go well because you've not worked in criminal law before or some crap like that, but you're more than qualified to be there and you know it. You probably got a better degree that the guy who's interviewing you. So don't get all self-sabotaging, just show them how much they need you, okay?"

"I know," Freed nodded, smiling a little while leaning against Laxus. "Thank you."

"It's what I'm here for," Laxus shrugged. "You said the same thing when I went to my interview," He leant up and pressed his lips against Freed's again for a soft kiss. "And don't worry about Porlyusica. She's intense, and she can be kind of an asshole when she wants to be, but she's gonna help ya a lot."

"I know," He repeated, nuzzling Laxus slightly again but pulling away as the snooze alarm went off. "I also know that you're an annoyingly effective distraction when we need to get ready."

Laxus barked out a laugh, pulling Freed close again and kissing him, wrapping his fingers into his hair, and pulling at it. Freed grinned as he kissed back, cupping Laxus' chin and dragging him as close as he could. They remained kissing for a short while, before pulling apart with slight breathlessness. Laxus grinned a little at Freed's expression, despite being just as flushed as Freed was. He cocked an eyebrow at his boyfriend.

"You wanna reconsider you banning me from your shower?" He teased. "Because something tells me that you might."

"Animal," Freed said in response, grinning. "You utter animal."

And before Laxus could ask for clarification, not that he needed it, Freed grabbed him by the chin and pulled him into a hot, passionate kiss, and it was more than enough of an answer for him.

* * *

 _**Sunday 8** t_ _ **h** _ _**May 2022** _

"Now, although we're here to celebrate my grandson, I think we should spare some congratulations for his boyfriend," Makarov spoke into the microphone. "Because with this job, Laxus will be doing less physical work, meaning he'll have a lot more energy to spend on his dear boyfriend. And after a year of putting on muscle on a building sight, I expect Freed has a lot of ideas for what that spare energy can be used for. Something I'm sure they're both incredibly excited about."

Laxus cringed, blushing as a cheer rushed through the crowd. He glanced towards Freed, to see him laughing and raising his champagne as if in a toast. Because Freed Justine was a traitor.

But Laxus couldn't help but smile at the reaction.

It was sort of a testament to Freed's growth, in a way. The fact that, in front of almost all of their friends and family, Freed was able to laugh at and indulge himself in a joke at his own expense; well, his and Laxus' expense. There was genuine enjoyment in his features as well, with honest laughter rather than forced politeness. When they had first met, he would have gotten either defensively angry or attempted to appear amused while a level of contempt grew in him. But now, his ego allowed him to take jokes. It was good, and Laxus enjoyed seeing it.

The reason for the gathering was Laxus had, after months of looking, gotten a new job. Again. Working at his construction company had been good and satisfying work, but it had awoken desire to move up the ladder. He was shockingly driven when he was enthusiastic about something.

And eventually he'd found a good job, and he was excited about it.

Having a degree in engineering, as well as work experience with Albion House and his time in construction, was instrumental in his promotion. He now was going to have a job as co-project manager in a new housing development three towns over. He was to direct the workmen on the site, while also being trained in the architectural aspects of the process with the intention being he earn a qualification in architecture by the time the estate was finished. It was perfect for him, and more than a step up form where he'd been working before.

It felt cliché to even think it, but as Laxus looked around to see the man he loved laughing with the people who had always been there for him, it felt as though the parts of his life were falling into place. It was a great feeling, to be able to sleep at night while thinking that his life was complete. Even if he had gotten there later than most might have, he was going to make the most of it.

"That's enough from me," Makarov said in conclusion. "This is all just to say, I'm very proud of the man you've become Laxus."

Makarov raised his glass of champagne, and the gathered crowd filling Fairy Tail's back garden mimicked the actions. They let out a cheer of a toast, all looking towards Laxus, who grinned sheepishly and tried to will away the blush on his face at the attention aimed at him. His eyes fell on Freed for anchorage, who was seemingly expecting this and greeted him with a soft, genuine smile that calmed the blonde.

Then he winked and the blush returned threefold, but Laxus could be annoyed about that later.

And thus, the party truly began. Drinks were pored, individual congratulations were made, and people enjoyed their time together. Throughout the night, people close to Laxus who had come to celebrate his new job congratulated him, all the while thanking Laxus for the work he had done for them over the years. It was almost emotional for him, to have people whose pathways he'd re-laid years prior, or people who paid him to remove the leaves from their guttering, treating him as if he were family. He supposed that it was one of the benefits of living in a relatively small village. He thanked them all politely and laughingly assured them that, if he had the time, he would still be happy to work on their houses should they need it.

As evening turned to night, the gathered guests slowly began to leave and return to their homes. Makarov claimed that the night was catching up on him once most of the guests had left, and retired to bed, leaving a small group of Laxus' friends sitting in Fairy Tail's beer garden.

Laxus sat on one of the picnic benches, leaning tiredly against Freed's shoulders as the alcohol in his system put him into a tired sense of lethargy; his sober boyfriend looking at him with amusement in his eyes as he stroked through the blonde hair. On the other side of the picnic table were Cana and Mirajane – now an official couple, though unwilling to admit when that had become true – who were in an equally tired state. Lisanna sat on the grass nearby, playing with one of the dogs at the adoption centre she now worked at. The only person missing was Elfman, who was obviously on his weekly Skype call with Evergreen despite both of their claims otherwise. Nobody called the two of them on their lies, because as fun as it would be, they seemed happy with their odd relationship.

"So, giving up your heritage and becoming an exec, huh?" Cana grinned, fiddling with an empty pint glass. "You're a traitor to your people."

"Yeah, most execs spend their days inches deep in dirt on a building site. I mean in a couple months I'll be like Freed used to be when we first met him," Laxus chuckled, and noticed the stroking of his hair slowing slightly. He smirked before continuing. "Nah, don't think I could get that far up my own ass."

"Hey," Freed attempted to sound offended, but was grinning when he tilted Laxus' head towards him. "I distinctly remember you being quite interested in me when we first met."

"Yeah, I guess," Laxus grinned back, and the stroking of his hair continued. "But I like you more now."

"Do you now?" Freed grinned. "Please, go into detail about why."

"Fuck me," Cana groaned "You two are revolting."

"You can fucking talk," Laxus snorted, looking towards Cana as she leant against her girlfriend. "I'll give you half the money in my fucking wallet right now if you ain't playing footsie under the table with each other."

"They are," Lisanna said as she threw a chew toy across and watching the dalmatian amble after it. "Have been since they sat down."

"Wow, I came here to support my friend and enjoy his company. And yet now I'm being attacked by everyone," Cana shook her head in an exaggerated gesture of being offended. "First from the never-ending gay honeymoon who never shut up about how in love they are," She gestured to Freed and Laxus, both of them chuckling at the title they'd been given. "And now from the woman who might one day be my sister in law. And all because I wanted to congratulate my very dear friend about his new job."

"And the free booze," Laxus smirked, and Cana cackled loudly, not bothering to pretend to be insulted.

"Fair," She cackled, looking over towards her girlfriend. "But I've gotten drunk enough, and it's pretty late. Ready to go home?"

"Yeah," Mirajane smiled, shifting to remove herself from the picnic bench they were all sat around. She walked to the other side, pressing her lips to both Laxus' and Freed's cheeks in a form of goodbye. "See you both soon. And good luck with your first day, I'm sure you'll be great."

"Thanks Mira," Laxus smiled.

"And if you fuck it up, you can always fuck your boss again. Worked well last time," Cana laughed, and Laxus glared while Freed chuckled to himself.

"Don't encourage her," Laxus grumbled over into shoulder.

"Well, you can't deny it. The last time you fucked your boss it worked quite well in the end," Freed chuckled, laughing happily when Laxus punched him in the arm. He pressed his lips onto the top of Laxus' head, then whispering softly. "Though if you do consider it, be aware I have a rather possessive side and will fight for you."

"That's hot," Laxus whispered back, leaning up and pressing his lips against Freed's and pulling him closer.

"This is a public space," Cana groaned, and Laxus pulled away to glare at her. Mirajane and Lisanna – dog now on a leash – standing either side of her, meaning it would only be the two men left from the party soon. "Nobody wants to see you tongue fucking each other."

"Then why are you watching?" Freed grinned.

"I preferred it when you were trying to get us to like you again," Cana smirked, and Freed laughed again. "Later blondie. Later fuckboy."

At their respective nicknames that they couldn't get rid of – no matter how hard Freed had tried – Freed and Laxus wished their friends a goodnight. They were soon left alone in Fairy Tail's beer garden, resting against one another as they enjoyed the silence of a village during the night. Laxus shifted slightly so he could look up at Freed, fondness painting his expressions.

"Thanks for the past few months," He said softly.

"What do you mean?" Freed tiled his head slightly, and a strand of hair fell and hit Laxus on the cheek. The blonde absently began playing with it.

"For being there, helping me find a job," Laxus explained, running the strands of green hair through his fingers. "For being okay with me quitting my job and being unemployed for a quarter of a year while I was looking."

"You did the same for me," Freed responded, smiling at his boyfriend's actions.

"Yeah, but you had savings and crap, and you had an idea of what you actually wanted to do. And we weren't dating when you quit your job," Laxus shrugged. "I never needed to support you or to talk about how the right job was around the corner or any of the crap that I made you do for me. So thanks for being okay with it all, and for not getting pissed off at me."

"You know it's not a problem," Freed whispered. "Though, I suppose I do have one regret about what happened over the last few months."

"Really?" Laxus asked, a flush of worry overtaking him.

"Nothing bad, mind you, so you can drop the expression," Freed chuckled, taking Laxus' hand in his own and stroking it absently. "It's just, some of the times when you needed a bit of enthusiasm, or just someone to talk to, it was over the phone. In retrospect it would have been considerably easier to do that in person. And, well, the best way for us to make sure that happens in the future would be to have you be around more often. And perhaps the best way to accomplish this would be to-"

"Are you asking me to move in with you?" Laxus cut in, sitting up. Cautious excitement filled him.

"Well, there's more than enough space-" Freed shook his head. "Sorry, I need to stop giving excuses in place of emotions. Old habits die hard I suppose. But yes, I want to have you live with me. Because I am in love with you, and I think living together would be incredible."

"You're serious?" Laxus asked again, grinning now. "You wanna have me live with ya? Permanently?"

"If you're ready for that," Freed clarified. "But yes, I'd like that."

In place of an answer, Laxus almost launched himself into Freed by kissing him hard. The force of the action made them both stumbles, taking them off the bench and onto the grass below. Freed laughed loudly as Laxus landed atop him, the sound slightly winded because of the weight on his chest. Laxus chuckled, pushing himself off of Freed while grinning.

"Just to clarify, was that a yes, or was that you trying to kill me to avoid an uncomfortable conversation?" Freed asked, rasping slightly, grinning.

"Shut the fuck up," Laxus said, though he was beaming, laughing boisterously as he pulled Freed up from the ground, so they were both standing. Freed had a similarly excited expression on his face, and the honest emotions of it made Laxus' heart nearly flutter. "And it's a yes, fucker. Of course it's a fucking yes."

* * *

 _**Saturday 5**_ _ **th** _ _**October 2024** _

Freed hadn't expected it, but he'd turned somewhat sentimental about his relationship.

A testament to this was how much he looked forward to Saturday mornings. He and Laxus had gotten into the habit of cooking breakfast together and eating it at their kitchen table, and despite how small and unimportant it might have seen to an outsider, Freed thought that it might be his favourite time of the week. It was certainly the thing he looked forward to most, and that his mind strayed to when he found himself bored at work.

Given both men now held managerial positions in their respective companies, they worked long hours. Freed had been the one to propose that, rather than working late, they enter work early each morning to have the evenings to enjoy each other's company. This meant that, although they woke up at the same time, their mornings were rushed, and they didn't have time to enjoy one another's presence before starting their days. It was the best way to stop their work life from affecting their relationship, but Freed did find himself craving the lazy mornings they used to share, hence why he liked Saturday so much.

They woke up together, laid in each other's arms for as long as they wanted, before stumbling down the stairs and cooking a large breakfast. Having pancakes and bacon while drinking coffee, looking at his boyfriend as he yawned, hair a mess and bags under his eyes, was heaven for Freed.

And today, he was in a particularly good mood.

Evergreen and Bickslow had come to stay at Albion House for the weekend, as they did a few times a year. He had kept his friendship with the two of them strong, with daytrips to the city being a regular thing, as well as video calls and near constant messaging. But having them in his home for the weekend was something he would always look forward to.

The two guests were still asleep, given that eight AM on a weekend was not considered sleeping in for most people on a weekend. But Laxus and Freed had woken early, and were now dancing around one another as they cooked, something they had grown to be proficient at.

To say that they had hit their stride as a couple was an understatement.

Freed carefully placed four rashers of bacon onto a frying pan above a gas burner, the smell of cooking meat filling his senses. As he gently prodded it with a spatula, large arms wrapped around him and a kiss was pressed into the back of his neck. He turned with a smile, looking to see Laxus wearing his nightwear and a large, fluffy, purple dressing down. Freed smiled a little at that, leaning against the man's back as he watched the food cook.

"Good morning," Freed smiled, turning a rasher over and relishing in the fizzing of the oil. "Is the hug solely for me, or to get closer to the food so you get it first?"

"It's for you," Laxus said with offence in his tone, though then laughed. "But if I can eat before Bickslow forces it down like a mad dog, I won't mind."

"I've made more than enough for all of us," Freed assured him. "Have you started on the pancake batter yet?"

"It can wait," Laxus mumbled, peppering kisses on the back of Freed's neck while smiling softly. Freed wore a similar expression. "I wanna make the most of you before they wake up. Don't wanna hear them bitching about how close we are and how much we're kissing. So I'm gonna get as many in before they show up."

"I suppose I can't complain about that," Freed grinned, placing the spatula resting against the frying pan. "Though their complaints haven't stopped you before."

"Doesn't mean I want to have an audience," Laxus grumbled, smiling as Freed turned around in his arms. He leant down so that their noses were resting against one another softly, smiling. "Because sometimes I want you all to myself."

"And forty-nine weeks of the year isn't enough for you?" Freed taunted.

"Fuck no," Laxus grinned, leaning down and pressing his lips against Freed's.

They shared a soft but passionate kiss for a short while, leaning against one another. Freed pushed Laxus' against the kitchen island they'd had installed, smirking a little when Laxus' hand began to play with his hair. When they pulled apart, both slightly breathless, they grinned at each other. There quiet mornings shared together really were incredible, and Freed certainly understood why Laxus didn't want to share it with their friends.

Unfortunately, their time alone could only last for so long, given their friends habit of acting like forces of nature when they wanted to. To prove this, they walked into the kitchen with the door banging loudly against the counter. The two men pulled away from each other, smiling resignedly.

"Get a room," Bickslow groaned.

"We had one," Laxus laughed. "You two just walked into it."

"In fact we had an entire house," Freed continued, pulling himself from Laxus' grasp to walk to the oven again. "You walked into that too."

"It smells divine," Evergreen praised as she sat at the kitchen table, glancing at herself in her compact mirror. She was the only person who had showered and dressed herself, something she did every time she stayed there. "Hopefully enough to distract me from sleeping on that awful sofa."

"I made it perfectly clear that I was happy to drive you to Elfman's house where I'm sure a bed would be waiting for you," Freed said plainly, removing the cooked bacon from the frying pan. "You argued against it; therefore the sofa was all that was left. And why you continue to be so peculiar around the poor man is something you've yet to explain to me. You've been dating for over a year now, it's hardly a scandal to want to spend time with him."

"Bickslow got the spare room," Evergreen huffed, ignoring Freed's comment. The lawyer sighed a little, wondering if he would ever get an insight to her relationship.

"He's not dating someone who lives here," Laxus laughed. "And doesn't have someone who'd take him to bed."

"Not that you know," Bickslow grinned, wiggling his eyebrows as he looked over the mounting food that Laxus and Freed had made. Before any of them could wonder if there was any truth in the statement, Bickslow kept going. "We're having Laxus' pancakes right; basically the only reason I come here?"

"We are, and I'm sure he'll be happy to make them once the bacon is done," Freed assured him then thought for a moment. "Although I'm not sure how many eggs we have, so we might not have that many."

"I can go check if she's laid any," Laxus shrugged, and Freed chose not to comment on the smile tugging at Laxus' lips.

"Thank you," Freed smiled, pressing his lips against Laxus' cheek as the blonde walked past him, pulled on his slippers and walked to the chicken coop in the garden, where their three chickens now lived. He shook his head at the enthusiasm that Laxus showed for their animals, given that Freed had initially been the one trying to convince him of them.

When he turned his head to his friends, Freed mentally prepared himself. Because what happened next was inevitable.

"Are you fucking kidding me!" Bickslow exclaimed, only whispering because he didn't want to alert Laxus to his annoyance.

"You can't just drop something like that on us!" Evergreen hissed, equally annoyed.

"What do you mean?" Freed smirked slightly as he began plating up food.

"We mean that bullshit you pulled last night," Bickslow snapped, crossing his arms. "We mean it's unfair that, after a perfectly innocent question about if you wanted to go out for dinner this evening, you decided that you couldn't because, and I quote, 'my funds are a little low this month because of the engagement ring.' And after you just casually mentioned that you decided to go to bed before we could ask any more questions."

"What other questions is there?" Freed asked, grinning slightly.

"What does it look like?" Evergreen said with exasperation in her voice. "When are you going to ask? How are you going to ask? Have you already asked and is this some nonsense where you don't tell us like those two women you're friends with?"

"Right," Freed nodded, glancing at the garden to see Laxus petting one of the chickens rather than looking for eggs. He had time. "I haven't asked him yet, hence why I didn't mention it with him in the room. I don't know how nor when I will ask him, all I know is that I will. I have faith that the moment will present itself and I'll be eloquent enough when it comes to it. And as for what it looks like, this is it."

Freed pulled out his phone, scrolled through his pictures, and opened the picture of the ring that he had brought. It was a simple obsidian band, made of simple geometric shapes. It was relatively minimalist, and Freed thought it was perfect for Laxus. He showed his friends it.

"Holy shit," Bickslow grinned. "Our boys all grown up."

"It looks great," Evergreen smiled, taking the phone, and zooming in on the picture. "It definitely suits him as well," She handed the phone back, and her smile was almost disconcerting. "You must have some idea about how you're going to do it?"

"Well, we've developed the tradition of hiking up the mountain every Christmas eve," Freed mused aloud. "I suppose if I can hold off from doing it until then, it would be quite romantic."

Stupidly, both of his friends let out a slight squeal at that.

"You're both ridiculous," Freed tutted slightly, though was grinning now. "I assume I can count on you both to keep this to yourself, right?"

They both agreed to this, and Freed turned back to the cooking he was doing. His eyes strayed over their back garden again, and he smiled softly as he watched Laxus attempting to access whatever eggs may or may not have been laid by their chickens. The chickens themselves were flocking to Laxus and either rubbing against him or pecking at him for attention; for whatever reason they had affinity for the man and loved his presence. He was laughing to himself, and it made Freed grin.

He soon watched as his boyfriend managed to leave the coop and the onslaught of attention from their chickens, and walked down their garden holding a small basket. It wasn't lost on Freed how cliché that they had become – keeping livestock while living in the country – but he found himself too happy to care.

"Only laid two," Laxus said as he walked inside. "It's enough, but we have to go to the store later."

"It doesn't shock me," Freed said, a slight tease in his tone. "You shower them with so much attention no matter what that they've got no incentive to lay any."

Laxus chuckled, and Freed passed him a mug of steaming coffee to warm him up. As Laxus cupped the hot drink, Freed realised that it would be very difficult indeed for him to keep the ring to himself before Christmas.

Because the man before him – dressed in an overly fluffy dressing gown, having just been accosted by adoring chickens, with red cheeks and mumbling through his pancake recipe without realising he was speaking out loud – was perfection. And to not shower the man with as much love and devotion as humanly possible would be incredibly difficult indeed.

* * *

 _**Sunday 13** t_ _ **h** _ _**December, 2026** _

"I now pronounce you husband and husband," Mirajane declared. "You may seal your marriage with a kiss."

Laxus and Freed moved with practiced synchronicity. They both took a single step forward, placing their hands on the back of the other man's neck, and brought their lips together. The kiss was soft, chaste but filled with emotion and passion and devotion for one another. It was their first kiss as a married couple, and it was utter perfection.

As they pulled apart, the small congregation that sat in the cathedral applauded, with a few cheers echoing around the large room. Both men smiled without dignity nor care for their surroundings, unable to look away from each other's eyes. The room was filled, but it felt as if they were alone.

Similar to their practice-ceremony, they walked down the cathedral isle with their hands intertwined. Laxus was grabbing onto his husband's hand as if he was a lifeline, and the feeling of an equally strong grasp on his own hand was perfect. The blonde could think of nothing but the fact that finally, after six years, he was married to the man of his dreams. That for the rest of their lives, they were bound together through marriage. It was perfect.

Everything was perfect.

It had been a small ceremony, with not many people there. Freed had no living family and Laxus had very little, so other than Makarov it was essentially their closest friends. This suited them both, as neither particularly wanted a large public spectacle.

As they left the cathedral, they say that it had begun to snow gently. The hired cars stood parked a little while away, and their photographer – Reedus – was waiting for them. No bells rung, as was their instructions, and slowly people began to file out of the building so that the pictures could be taken. This all seemed to happen around the two men, with them both too enveloped in their own world of each other.

When the photography started, they followed Redus' instructions. Multiple pictures had been taken, all of which had Laxus and Freed in the middle while different selections of their friends gathered around them. On any other day Laxus might have found it all tedious and unnecessary, but he was too high on the elation to care.

Once Reedus had claimed that the rest of the photographs would include the grooms individually rather than together, Freed leant to Laxus and whispered.

"May I have a minute?" He asked softly.

"Of course," Laxus nodded, knowing what Freed needed.

He removed his hand from Freed's and allowed his husband – a shot of joy rushed through him every time he thought of Freed that way – to walk toward Evergreen. Laxus watched with a soft smile on his face as the woman walked to her car, pulled out a bouquet of flowers from her back seat, and handed it to Freed. The lawyer seemed to have thanked her, before walking to the cemetery attached to the cathedral.

This was why Freed had requested that they get married here, in a town neither near Era nor Magnolia. Initially Laxus had been confused as to why Freed wanted to wed in a cathedral, with neither man being religious, but it made sense. This was where Freed had been raised, and where both of his parents had been buried.

Between the photographs taken with his wedding party – Elfman as his best man, Cana his matron of honour – he found his eyes lingering on Freed, who was now crouched down before a gravestone. His lips were moving as if speaking Laxus smiled at the sight.

Freed really had made progress. It was incredible to see.

Once all the pictures of Laxus had been taken, Reedus asked whether Freed was ready to begin his solo pictures. Laxus glanced to see that Freed was still speaking to his parent's grave, and said that he'd ask Freed, but he might need some time. The photographer agreed and took a step back, deciding to take requests.

Laxus thanked him for his patience, walking towards Bickslow's car first where both his and Freed's coats had been stored. He was already feeling the cold, and suspected Freed would be too. He picked his out first, a large faux-fur lined thing that Freed often referred to as the cloak, given Laxus' tendency not to wear the sleeves. He also removed the red, almost Victorian styled jacket Freed always wore since he had brought it. He'd seen it at a thrift store of all things, and had fallen in love with it. Laxus always grinned at the memory, often teasing Freed with how he used to only wear designer suits.

He walked slowly to his husband, stepping on the gravel pathway to make sure his presence was known. Freed looked up Laxus and smiled softly, which Laxus returned. He placed the coat over Freed's shoulders and looked down at the gravestone, decorated with a new bunch of flowers.

' _Here lie August and Myriam Justine, Loving Partners and Caring Parents.'_

"You okay?" Laxus asked, and Freed nodded.

"I am. It's nice to see them. Even if I can't actually… see them," He spoke quietly, still crouching before the grave. "I should come here more often; it helps more than I remember. Though I'm sure you of all people know that."

"We could make time to come regularly, if you want," Laxus offered. "I still go to moms grave at least once a month."

"Perhaps," Freed nodded slightly. "Am I needed?"

"We can wait," Laxus shrugged.

"No, I've spoken to them for long enough. No doubt if they can hear me somehow they'd be bored of it," Freed chuckled, standing upright. "And that photographer was rather expensive, if I remember correctly, so I wouldn't want to waste our money."

"That's not important," Laxus said firmly. "If you need more time, you get it."

"Maybe another minute would be nice," Freed admitted.

Laxus nodded. Freed looked down at his parents shared grave, and Laxus wrapped an arm around his shoulder to silently show he was there. He stood beside his husband, the snow falling softly around them and making Freed look ethereal in his beauty. To be able to call this man his husband wasn't something that Laxus would ever take for granted, and he counted himself more than lucky that Freed had chosen to spend his life with him.

As they stood in silence, Laxus noticed that a few tears had begun to fall form Freed's eyes, but he didn't mention any of them. He pulled Freed slightly closer, and allowed his husband to silently cry at his parent's gravestone. This was something that happened every time either man visited the grave of their loved ones, and Laxus was glad Freed now felt he could express his emotions openly.

He pressed his lips against the crown of Freed's head softly, allowing the man to raise his hand to his face and wipe away the stray tears from his cheeks.

"You okay?" He whispered softly, and Freed nodded against him.

"I just needed to get it out," Freed explained softly, as he always did on the occasions where he cried about his parents. Laxus had assured him he didn't need to explain. "But I think I'm ready to get back to it now."

"You sure?" Laxus asked, and Freed nodded.

Removing his arm from around Freed's shoulders, Laxus took a step back. He watched as Freed looked down at his parent's grave again, a gentle and loving expression on his face. It was a look that Laxus adored seeing on his husband's face, and the honesty in the expression warmed Laxus more than he could describe.

"Goodbye father. Goodbye mother," Freed whispered. He placed a kiss on his fingertips and pressed them against the marble gravestone. "I love you both very much."

He took a moment to gather his thoughts and calm his breathing. Laxus watched from the side-line as he spoke again, his voice almost silent.

"And for all you have both done, thank you."

**~Fin~**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here we are, at the end. I hope you all enjoyed it, it was really fun to write. I did a bit more character drama in this one than what I normally write, and I hope it worked out well. Thank you all for reading, and if you enjoyed it then maybe consider reading some of my other work. Thank :-)

**Author's Note:**

> Here's [My Tumblr.](https://eryiss.tumblr.com/)  
> 


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